Starlight
by Wakefire
Summary: When a bridge bombing brings Dr. Harrison Wells aka Eobard Thawne a telekinetic meta-human, he takes her under his wing hoping to mold her potential into something useful. But Stella Carrick quickly turns out to be at least as much trouble as she is worth and threatens to mess up his carefully crafted 15-year plan. And what's worse, he's tempted to let her.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So I started watching The Flash and this popped into my head and wouldn't leave. Set during Season 1, there will most likely eventually be a sequel that's Harry/OC on Season 2.

* * *

Like all far-reaching catastrophes in her life, it all began on a split-second impulse.

The four pm traffic jam on the northern Missouri River bridge was always bad, but this was ridiculous. Stella took off her helmet, shook out her hair and glanced at the clock on her phone again. The line hadn't moved an inch for five minutes now. Technically, since she was on a motorcycle, she could have gone around, but the cars before her were packed so tightly she likely would have scraped off some paint if nothing worse. She sighed in frustration, put the helmet back on and opened Facebook just to get something to do.

Then there was a godawful noise and the road before her shook so hard she fell over. Looking over her shoulder, her eyes widened as she saw the pillars of fire around the support beams on both sides. All around her people were screaming and scrambling out of their vehicles to run to safety. One of the beams broke from the root and, with an ear-tearing creak, started falling towards the road.

It was an instinctive reaction rather than conscious decision. Stella pushed off the motorcycle, got up from the ground and ran to the opposite direction, towards the beam. It was a couple feet shy of hitting the highest cars when she raised up her arms and focused on pushing against it. The metal groaned, but stopped falling.

"How – are you doing that?!" wondered the couple nearby crouched down, staring at the hundred of pounds of steel now hovering above their heads.

"Doesn't matter, just run!" Stella yelled. The couple took off and she drew a deep breath before she threw the steel beam over the edge into the river. Before she could congratulate herself or even feel relieved that she wasn't crushed to death, another scream caught her attention. A couple of rows back a car had turned to its side from the impact, someone still inside it. Stella rushed towards it, gave it a nudge and tried to float it down gently so as not to hurt whoever was inside. There was a woman on the driver's seat and a little girl strapped to the back. The doors looked damaged, so Stella just ripped them off entirely and dove to the backseat to get the kid out. Besides being scared, the child looked fine, as did the mother whom Stella handed her to.

"Thank you", the woman whispered, clutching the girl to her chest.

"Anytime", Stella grinned, even though the woman couldn't see it under the face shield.

Then, a sound of more explosions, though she couldn't see where, and the entire bridge shook. Stella climbed onto the car she had just turned over and tried to spot the source when she noticed the cracks in the asphalt.

"Oh no, hell no", she breathed.

The entire bridge beneath gave out.

* * *

Barry, or The Flash as the other people saw him, arrived at the scene just in time to see the explosions under the bridge, one after another. It was crammed with cars and people were still running out. He sped up to the highest point where the road was cracked all through, he could see the sparkling blue water underneath, but… it wasn't falling, nothing was falling. He wondered about it for about two seconds, which was a small eternity in speedster time, until he spotted a woman standing on top of a car, hands reached out. She had a motorcycle helmet on, but her posture screamed extreme concentration.

"You guys are not gonna believe this", he spoke.

"Believe what, what is happening?" Caitlin asked on the other end of the comm line.

Barry decided to explain later, once the situation was dealt with. He ran up the woman.

"Hi!" he shouted over the general chaos. "Can you hold this?"

Apparently he had distracted her, because the ground dropped down a couple of inches before she got the hold of it again. Not much of her was visible with the helmet, leather jacket, jeans and boots, but her neck was glimmering with sweat.

"I – I'm not sure!" she yelled back. "I'll try, just get everyone out!"

Barry gave her a thumbs up before he ran. He searched between the vehicles, found every person still on the part of the bridge that was about to collapse and carried them off, one by one. By the time he put the last one down on solid ground, the bridge was trembling. He turned back around, about to get the woman, when it finally gave out.

Barry sped up, jumping from concrete block to the next, until he reached the car and the woman, the latter collapsed on the roof. He scooped her up and ran even faster up the falling blocks. It was like a level of Mario, except if he missed a step, they might both die. Fortunately he was the fastest man alive and could get both of them out in time. He didn't stop by the group where he'd gathered the other people, though, but ran straight into a secluded side alley.

"Barry, what's going on, talk to us!" Caitlin yelled in his ear.

"Everything's fine, I got everyone out before the bridge collapsed", Barry spoke as he knelt down and carefully laid the woman down. She was still limp and didn't stir even when he slipped the helmet off, spilling dark brown and firetruck red hair on her shoulders. She couldn't be much older than he was. "Someone was holding it up, I think she's meta-human – and now she's unconscious, her pulse is really weak, what do I do?"

"Bring her here", Dr. Wells said without a beat.

* * *

Eobard Thawne, even as Dr. Harrison Wells, had never been the kind of person who squandered an opportunity to gain an edge. So when his plan had reached the critical moment, his focus had of course been on Barry – or rather, The Flash – but he had been keeping an eye out for other meta-humans that might prove useful. Unfortunately, the results so far had been… underwhelming. The ones that weren't petty criminals were quite literally too volatile to control. Nevertheless, when Barry called in about a woman who could hold up a collapsing bridge, Eobard was intrigued.

When Barry brought the woman to S.T.A.R. Labs, she was still unconscious and rather pale. They put her on a bed in one of the smaller lab rooms, and Eobard and Cisco hooked her up to the monitors while Caitlin examined her. She concluded that there were no injuries, merely acute hypoglycemia likely caused by spending up her energy reserves, which would be healed with rest and a few IV bags.

"That makes sense", Barry said. "Holding up that bridge must have drained her."

"When you say 'holding up a bridge', do you mean like -" Cisco raised his hands above his head, "physically, or -?"

Barry shook his head. "No, not like that. I think she's telekinetic. Or that's how it looked like – is that even possible, Dr. Wells?"

Eobard rolled closer and studied their newest meta-human find closely. The woman was somewhere between twenty-five and thirty, medium-height and athletic. Olive skin, heart-shaped face, full lips, feathery eyebrows, somewhat ethnically ambiguous but most likely partially East Asian. He noticed that she was beautiful, as a kind of scientific observation, but he was much more interested in what wasn't visible on the surface. The most curious detail was the Drake equation tattooed on the outside of her right arm.

"It's possible. The real question is how she does it, because it's not a matter of simply..." He waved his hand and snapped his fingers. "Dr. Snow, how long until she wakes up?"

Caitlin shrugged. "Hard to say. Could be a couple minutes or a few hours."

Eobard stroked his chin, deep in thought. He was tempted to give the meta-human something to speed up her waking, but he didn't know how it would interact with her physiology, or if she happened to be allergic to something. Which reminded him -

"Did she have any identifying information on her?"

There was a blur, and Barry was standing there holding up a wallet. "Her name is Stella Carrick, she just turned twenty-eight, and she's from Gotham. Or at least, she got her driver's license there", he recited. "Also, she goes to the Unibody gym and is a frequent shopper at Whole Foods. And she's a blood donor, her blood type is A positive."

"It's a start, but we're going to need more blood", Eobard said. He took an empty blood collection syringe from the nearby table and stuck it into her IV-free arm.

Caitlin shot him a disapproving look. "Shouldn't we wait until she's awake to do that?"

Eobard shrugged. "The sooner we discover how her powers function, the better", he replied. "Can you stay with her in case she wakes up?"

"Of course."

"Thank you", Eobard said, smiling, as he tapped the vial of blood between his fingers. "Barry, Cisco – let's go see what we can find out about Stella."

* * *

It turned out there wasn't much to be found on the subject of Stella Carrick. She wasn't in the police database, so at least she wasn't an established criminal, but neither was she in any other databases Barry and Cisco could hack into. (Eobard didn't count Instagram as a reliable source of information.) Well, almost any other.

"Guys, I'm almost sure she's a meta-human", Cisco said. "I pulled her blood donation records. She used to go every couple of months, but suddenly stopped ten months ago. Which would be about the time the particle accelerator went off."

"That is highly suspicious", Barry agreed.

"Which brings me to another question", Cisco continued, clicking to another browser tab where he's opened Stella's Facebook page. "How come all the meta-human women we've discovered are really good-looking, but the men look like Vin Diesel's ugly cousins?"

Barry snorted. "You mean, all two of them? That's not really an adequate sample size."

"Possible aesthetic patterns aside", Eobard interrupted them, "Cisco's right. She is a meta-human. Take a look at this."

He moved away from the microscope where he'd been studying the blood sample. Barry took his place, staring down into the ocular.

"What is that bonded with her blood cells?" Barry wondered. "Dark matter?"

He was interrupted by Caitlin's frantic voice on the comms. "Uh, Dr. Wells? We have a problem."

"Is it the meta-human?" Eobard answered. "Is she getting worse?"

"No, she's fine. She's awake, in fact. And she locked me out of the lab."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I'm not gonna keep updating daily, but I wanted to add this since I ended the first chapter in an evil cliffhanger.

* * *

Stella's consciousness returned suddenly, violently, like one startles awake from a nightmare. One moment she was blissfully unaware and the next her eyes shot open and her heart rate increased by thirty. She knew this because she heard the distinctive beeping somewhere on her left. Gazing around, she took in the metal rails on the bed, the clinical steel walls and then, the woman in a white coat walking towards her.

"Oh, hi", the woman spoke. She had a sweet voice and she was smiling, but Stella was also sure she had never seen her before. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm..." Stella blinked repeatedly as she pushed herself up, ignoring the bout of dizziness as she did so. She noticed the multiple computer monitors and scientific equipment, most of which she didn't recognize, scattered around the room. "Where am I? How did I get here?"

"You collapsed when you were holding up that bridge", the woman explained as she sat down on a stool beside the bed. "It was just a blood sugar drop, but -"

"You saw that?!" Stella interrupted her.

"Not me personally, but I hear it was quite impressive."

"Jesus", Stella groaned and buried her face in her hands. Ten months of trying to be careful and keep her face out of the conspiracy pages on the internet and now this… She was vaguely aware that the bed she was sitting on was starting to rise off the floor.

"Whoa, calm down", the woman spoke. "I think you're, uh -"

Stella dropped her hands and stared at her. "This isn't a hospital, is it? Doesn't look like one", she said, a slight tremble in her voice.

"Well, no", the woman answered carefully. "This is a lab, but -"

The medical instruments on the nearby table rattled before they all rose up in the air and turned to point at the woman. Eyes widening, she backed away onto her feet.

"What are you -"

"Get out", Stella whispered.

The woman took a few tentative steps back. Stella pulled off the IV in her arm, slid off the bed that now hovered several inches above the floor and followed her, the medical instruments floating beside her like a strange flock of birds.

"I don't want to hurt you, but I will", she said, her hands curling into fists. "Get. Out."

The woman swallowed, turned on her heels and ran out of the room. Stella directed the instrument flock near the doorway in case anyone tried to burst in and pulled up a chair by the computers, doing her best to ignore the persistent dizziness in her head. After a bit of frantic poking around the system, she found the program that shut and locked the door. Uttering a shaky sigh, she let the medical instruments clatter to the floor and flexed her trembling fingers. She didn't have a solid plan, only a vague idea that she had to erase whatever these people – whoever they were – had gathered on her, and then she could escape. She clicked down some of the programs on the screen and was greeted by a bright blue background with the S.T.A.R. Labs logo on it.

"Jesus fuck", Stella muttered, running her hand through her hair. Of all the bad situations she'd ended up in in her life, this had got to be at least in the top three. "What am I gonna do?"

Then the door behind her slid open.

* * *

Although Barry had sped off, he was still in the corridor outside the lab where they had left the meta-human with Caitlin when Eobard and Cisco got there.

"Caitlin, how did this happen?" Eobard demanded.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Wells, but she threatened me with levitating scalpels! And every other instrument that was there, but I was mostly concerned about the scalpels", Caitlin replied.

"Why would she do that, what did you do?" Cisco asked.

"I didn't do anything!" Caitlin exclaimed. "She seemed really scared. And probably still has low blood sugar, the IV couldn't finish before she ripped it off."

"Alright", Eobard said. He went to the hidden panel on the wall where he could override the locking mechanism on the doors. "I'll go talk to her, you stay here. That means you too, Barry", he added when he sensed the telltale electric charge around the young man.

"Are you sure?" Barry said. "I talked to her on the bridge, she might remember me. And she already threatened Caitlin, she could be dangerous."

Eobard turned around to look at him. "Barry, I may be in a wheelchair, but I'm not completely helpless", he smiled. "Besides, if she's already frightened, The Flash rushing in won't help the matter."

Not to mention that if the meta-human was indeed dangerous, he didn't want Barry in there, either as a witness or a potential victim. And he had to admit, he was curious to be the first one to meet this woman with such interesting powers.

Reluctantly the three of them stayed back as Eobard wheeled to the door. The door controls overridden, it slid open with a quiet whoosh. Stella Carrick shot up from her seat in front of the computers, and so did everything within a few feet of her that wasn't bolted to the floor. She tried to back away, but didn't get far until she hit the table. Her eyes were glowing with brilliant green light, not figuratively, they were literally sparkling with energy.

"Hello, Stella", Eobard spoke in his most pleasant, disarming tone. "May I call you Stella?"

The woman opened and closed her mouth several times before answering. "I… guess so", she said slowly. "You're Harrison Wells."

"Yes. Nice to make your acquaintance", Eobard smiled. "Would you mind putting those monitors down? They were quite expensive."

Again, slowly like a prey animal trying to avoid sudden movements that would provoke attention, Stella pried her hand from the edge of the table and lifted it up. When she lowered her arm, the monitors and other objects hovered back down to their places, except one that missed the table by a critical inch. She dove after it and managed to catch it before it hit the floor.

"Sorry", she grimaced as she swung back up and put the computer monitor down safely. "That, uh, happens sometimes."

"Does that happen often? Accidental telekinesis?"

When the woman turned to look at him again, her eyes were no longer glowing. They were still green, just a much more subdued, darker shade, surrounded by smudged eyeliner and so very suspicious.

"Why do you want to know?" she asked as she crossed her arms and leaned against the table.

"I heard you and Dr. Snow had a bad start. Let's try this again." Eobard moved a bit closer, avoiding the medical instruments scattered on the floor. "I'm assuming that after poking around our computer, you've already made the connection between my particle accelerator and your powers. So you can understand why I'm curious about them."

Her eyes narrowed further. "So that's why you had me brought to your creepy lab while I was passed out?"

The corner of his mouth tugged. "I had you brought to my 'creepy lab' mainly because you were unconscious and needed help", he answered. "What's the last thing you remember before you passed out?"

Stella frowned. "The Streak was there, he was getting the people off the bridge while I tried to hold it together… Wait. Did he bring me here, does he work for you?"

"He works with me", Eobard corrected. It was almost true, even. "I've been helping him understand and develop his powers. I can help you too."

Stella huffed. "Forgive me if I'm skeptical, but in every science fiction book I've ever read, when you get superpowers, giving yourself to the hands of a scientist in a shady laboratory is never a good idea. Especially if that scientist created you. That's the surefire way to end up locked in a room and endlessly prodded with needles."

Eobard chuckled. "I could point out that the only person so far who's locked you up anywhere was you. Which was pretty clever, by the way, I give you that. But I understand your concern. If you want to go, we won't stop you."

The woman stared at him for a long while, as if debating whether he was serious. When she strode to grab her leather jacket and motorcycle helmet from the side table, Eobard continued.

"However, I'd be surprised if you weren't the least bit curious to know how it is that you can do what you do. I can tell you that."

Stella froze, her jacket halfway on. He could see the struggle within her, in the taut muscles of her shoulders, until she made her decision. She slid off the sleeve she'd just put on and turned back to face him.

"Okay, I'll bite", she said. "What do you know, Dr. Wells?"

* * *

"So. Correct me if I'm wrong", Stella said and paused to take another bite of her thus far third burger. Unsurprisingly, she too required a binge to replace all the energy she had expended, and junk food was the most efficient option. "The accelerator explosion altered Barry's DNA, gave him fast healing and enabled him to tap into this Speed Force which lets him run at ridiculous speeds. And I have a similar but different energy source that's bonded with my cellular structure, only I project it outward and that's how I can levitate things?"

"I believe it's dark matter", Eobard said. "I'm not yet sure how its presence translates to functional telekinesis, that'll require further testing, but my theory is that you can vibrate objects at such a high frequency that you can affect their projection and levitate them."

After convincing Stella to not run away, they had relocated to the cortex. Or she, Eobard, Barry and Cisco had; understandably, Caitlin hadn't been too eager to stay after being threatened at knifepoint, so she had gone home for the day. Barry had done a quick food run to Big Belly Burger and seemed quite amused to have found someone who shared his superhuman appetite. Of course, being Barry, he had told Stella his real name, which was a problem if she were to become a threat. Cisco was still being a fanboy and couldn't seem to stop staring at the woman currently sitting cross-legged on a table.

"Okay, makes sense so far", Stella shrugged, slurped some milkshake and stopped abruptly. "Though, for the record, taking my blood without my permission is not giving you any points on the 'creepy scientist' scale."

Eobard smiled and spread his hands in a vaguely apologetic gesture. As long as the woman's eyes weren't glowing, he considered himself to be on the better side between her ire and curiosity. Indeed, to her credit, she was taking the whole thing very well. Instead of rejecting facts simply because they sounded unbelievable, she asked more questions until she was satisfied, and even though she wasn't a scientist, he didn't really have to dumb it down for her.

"Okay, so, you can't run fast like Barry", Cisco said, "or can you?"

Stella shrugged. "Well, I can run a sub-six minute mile on a good day, but that's probably not enough", she smirked.

"Yeah, we're talking a little faster than that. But can you levitate yourself? I mean, can you fly?"

She tilted her head and gazed thoughtfully at the ceiling. "Technically, I wouldn't call it flying. I can levitate myself, so I can appear to be flying, but it's… iffy."

"Iffy?" Eobard repeated. Stella chuckled.

"In the lack of a more scientific term. For one, humans and other living things are harder to move. And I have to really focus on lifting myself, it's a complicated thought process, and it feels like..." She bit her lip, pondering. "I guess that vibration theory has merit, because it feels like I'm shaking all over, like on a molecular level or something. It's hard to explain, but it's incredibly distracting. So I don't do it often."

"That's still really awesome!" Cisco said. "You're the first meta-human we've found that can even sort of fly."

Stella laughed. Eobard had to admit, he could see why Cisco was so taken with her; she had a very bright smile, like sunlight, that she showcased quite often now that she'd stopped being terrified.

"There is one aspect of your power that I haven't been able to quantify", Eobard continued. "The way you lifted the computer monitors and other objects – it seemed more like an emotional reaction than intentional."

"Yeah, like I said, that happens sometimes", she admitted, a little reluctantly. "Less often now that I know to expect it. When I get a sudden emotional reaction, I tend to lift things without conscious effort. It's more like I have to concentrate on holding back so it doesn't happen." She shook her head as she sipped her milkshake. "I've broken so much furniture. But it's still less inconvenient than the other side of the equation."

Eobard frowned. "The other side being...?"

Stella smiled mildly. "That I need to be in a heightened emotional state to use my powers effectively. I mean, I can do this whenever -" she reached her hand towards the paper bag and hovered it to herself, "but if I want to lift, say, a van, I need to be really angry or happy or -"

"Scared that the bridge is gonna collapse under you", Barry finished.

"Yes, that works great too", she grinned as she dug out another hamburger. "Is anyone gonna eat this, or can I…?"

"So you're like a reverse Jedi", Cisco mused. "Instead of letting go of all emotions and being all zen, you need to be emotional."

"Wouldn't reverse Jedi be a Sith?" Stella pointed out.

"Good point", Cisco said and lowered his voice to a gravelly growl. " _Use your anger, do not hesitate._ "

Stella giggled. "Yeah. I just don't think it'd be healthy to be angry all the time, so I've had to find alternatives."

"But that's kind of weird, isn't it, for them to be linked like that?" Barry said.

"Well, I think we've gone past the usual definition of weird regardless", Eobard remarked.

"What were you doing when the wave hit you?" Barry asked the woman. "Because we had a meta who had a bomb shrapnel inside of her and basically became one. Maybe something similar happened to you."

"I… don't know. I mean, I wasn't doing anything special", Stella said. There was something a little too deliberate in her shrug and facial expression. Barry and Cisco might have missed it, but Eobard was almost certain she was lying. Why, he wasn't sure, but he decided to let it slide for now. He'd uncover her secret later – if he played his cards right, she would tell him herself.

"Alright", he said, looking at her over pointed fingers. "Now you know as much as we do. If you come back in a few days, once you're properly replenished, we can do some more test to quantify your powers further."

Stella looked back, still a little bit suspicious, but he could see the hook of curiosity had sunk in. She took out her phone from the pocket of her jacket and flicked through it.

"Well, I have an empty Thursday afternoon. I'm pretty sure I was supposed to be running errands or something, but this is way more interesting, so..." She grinned as she jumped up from the table and threw her jacket over her shoulders. "But no needles, okay?"

"You have my word", Eobard smiled.

"Not sure I find that all that convincing, but what the hell. Carpe diem and all that." Stella's eyes sparked green again as she threw her phone in the air, where it spun around multiple times, before she caught it and slipped it back into her pocket.

"You need a ride?" Barry asked as she grabbed her helmet.

"Oh, right. I forgot my motorcycle's crushed on the bottom of the river. Damnit, I loved that bike", she sighed. "You have a super speedy car or something?"

"Or something", Barry grinned.

* * *

When Barry Allen aka The Streak had offered her a ride home, Stella had assumed it was by a vehicle. She had not expected him to just scoop her up and run all the way to her apartment. Or close to her apartment, anyway; he stopped at an empty side alley so nobody would see when he slowed down and put her down on her shaky feet.

"I can honestly say that was the most disorientating experience of my life", Stella gasped, swiping her now completely messed-up hair from her face. "And I think I swallowed a bug. But thanks for the ride, anyway."

"Anytime", Barry grinned. "Us superheroes need to help each other out."

Stella huffed. "I don't know about superheroes. I mean, you're obviously one, or The Streak is, but -"

"Actually, I prefer the Flash", he interjected.

"Okay, that's much better. 'The Streak' sounds a little… questionable. Like you run around in a long trenchcoat and nothing else."

Barry laughed. Apparently he was determined to make sure she got home, because he followed her on normal walking speed as she left the alley. It was unnecessary, considering the fact that it wasn't that late and she had superpowers, but she appreciated the gesture.

"Which reminds me, I don't think I thanked you for saving my life", she continued, slipping her hands into the pockets of her jeans. "So… thanks, I guess, as insufficient as that sounds."

"Of course", Barry said. "But I couldn't have done that and got all those other people out too without you. That counts as being a superhero in my book."

Stella shook her head. "Yeah, but you came there to help those people. I just happened to be there and sort of… reacted", she said. "There's a difference."

Barry raised an eyebrow. "Is there?"

"Isn't there?" Stella replied. Arriving at the her building, she stepped up to the doorstep and found her keys. "Anyway, this is me. Thanks for the escort."

"Wait, I almost forgot -" Barry said suddenly and reached for his pocket. She blinked as he handed her her own wallet. "I just looked through it, to find out who you are. I didn't take anything."

He looked almost comically guilty. Stella blinked a couple more times before she slowly took it.

"I'm just trying to come to terms with the fact that The Flash pickpocketed me while I was unconscious", she spoke. "You people… Dr. Wells took my blood and now this."

"Well, to be fair, you pointed knives at my friend and hacked into our security system."

"Oh yeah." Stella grimaced. "Okay, how about we call it even and you remind me to apologize to her on Thursday?"

"Deal", Barry said. "Good night. See you on Thursday."

There was a flash of yellow lightning and he was gone in the blink of an eye, leaving a trail of dust and some trash flying behind. Smiling, Stella shook her head as she stepped inside. Superheroes… As soon as the front door closed behind her, she took out her phone and texted Michelle.

' _Hi, when do you get off work? I need to talk IRL. Something crazy happened and I might've really fucked up.'_

* * *

After everyone else had gone home, Eobard entered the time vault and stood up from the wheelchair. He pressed his palm on the interface and spoke to the screen.

"Gideon, show all references to Stella Carrick."

"Zero references", the computer voice concluded, and the screen filled with zeroes.

Eobard tilted his head. "Huh. Interesting."


	3. Chapter 3

Stella couldn't see her best friend that night because Michelle was working a late night shift, so she offered to cook breakfast slash brunch the next morning. Michelle Tran was a nurse and often worked irregular hours, but since Stella's work hours were irregular at best by choice, it all worked out. About half past ten there was a familiar knock on the door and she momentarily abandoned the bacon on the pan to go open it. Michelle was standing behind the door with a newspaper in her hand, her round cheeks flushed and her shiny black hair all windswept.

"Hey! No Lara?" Stella asked as she stepped aside.

"No, I thought it's better she doesn't hear this conversation, you know she has no filter", she said as she stormed inside and raised up the newspaper. "Did you see this? You're famous now, congrats!"

"I'm not famous. The woman who held up the bridge is famous. Depending on the source, she's also six feet tall, a redhead, and/or possibly Beyoncé. Which makes no sense whatsoever but I'm kinda flattered", Stella grinned, closing the door behind her friend.

"Well, they got the redhead part half right", Michelle pointed out.

"That's a fluke. I had a helmet on, they couldn't even see my hair."

Michelle shook her head before she broke into a grin. "You crazy woman!" she exclaimed as she closed Stella into a hug. "Did you seriously do what the paper says you did, are you alright, what happened?!"

"That's a surprisingly long and complicated story, you'll want to sit down", Stella said and paused to sniff the air. "Be right back, bacon!"

"As long as you have coffee, I'm all ears", Michelle called after her.

Fortunately Stella's apartment wasn't that big, so she was back in the kitchen in a few strides. Not that it really counted as a kitchen, it was a living room with kitchen appliances on one end and a bed in the opposite corner. It was an old red tile building and somehow always reminded Stella of a firehouse despite the fact that she'd never been to one. The apartment was nothing compared to the one she'd occupied ten months ago, but she preferred this one exponentially. She handed Michelle a tall cup of coffee, and her best friend parked herself by the table

"You met the Streak?" That was the first point where Michelle interrupted, before that she had simply muttered 'oh no's and 'oh my god's. "Did you see his face, do you know who he is?"

"Eh, eventually", Stella said. "But don't ask me, I promised not to tell anyone."

"Fair enough." Michelle raised up his hands. "I guess that's part of the superpowered privilege."

Stella rolled her eyes, cracked some eggs on the pan and continued the story. By the time she got to the part where she had locked herself in the laboratory, Michelle was laughing, her head buried against the table.

"Stop laughing, I was terrified! You're a terrible friend", Stella accused.

"You were terrified of getting locked up in the lab so you locked yourself in the lab", Michelle recanted, wiping tears from her deep brown eyes. "Wasn't that kind of, I don't know, counterproductive?"

"I had a plan, okay? I was gonna scour their system of… you know what, doesn't even matter. How much did you sleep last night?"

"I don't know, maybe four hours?"

Stella shook her head, but couldn't help but utter a sympathetic sigh. "I'll get you more coffee", she muttered and reached her hand towards Michelle's cup, which floated over through the air. "Anyway. I'm searching the computer when the door that _I just locked_ slides open again, and I'm thinking it must like a dozen armed guards, but it's Harrison Wells, by himself, and -"

"Get out!" Michelle interrupted. "You met Harrison Wells? That Harrison Wells?"

Stella raised an eyebrow. "How many Harrison Wellses do we know of?" she asked. "It wasn't that surprising in hindsight since it was S.T.A.R. Labs, but boy was I not expecting that. But, moving on..."

When Stella was finally finished with the story, she had cooked the entire breakfast, bacon, eggs, toast and raspberry marmalade, the works. She carried the plates over to the table and sat down opposite of Michelle, one of her bare feet on the edge of the chair. Even if Michelle was a terrible friend for laughing at her, she was thankfully level-headed enough not to be too shocked by anything Stella had told her.

"And I thought I had an eventful day because we got a gunshot victim who had tried to hide the fact by stabbing himself", Michelle said, digging into her eggs. "But do me a favor and try not to do that again, please? I can't worry about you too like I worry about Janine."

"Everyone's talking like I ran up to that bridge on purpose. I was just… there. So don't worry", Stella said.

"Like you were just there when you got shot?"

"That was one time! And it was just a graze."

"Whatever you say", Michelle said, utterly unconvinced, and poured herself more orange juice. Then, a grin spread on her lips. "So, tell me. What's Harrison Wells like in real life?"

Stella chewed on her toast, considering it. "Really smart, obviously, but surprisingly friendly. Deceptively friendly, if you ask me. And, well..."

"And what?"

"And he's much better looking in real life than in pictures. It was kind of distracting", Stella admitted. Michelle snorted. "Not that it matters, it's just a scientific observation."

"Mm-hmm. You've only been fangirling over him forever, and now he seems very interested in you and invited you back to his lab, but it doesn't matter at all that he's really hot." Michelle smiled overly sweetly. Stella resisted the urge to levitate the juice box over her head and flip it over.

"He invited me back to the lab because he wants to study me. Or my powers, more correctly. It has nothing do with the rest of me." Stella gulped down some coffee. "Besides, people like that don't date people like me. I mean, he's a genius and I'm..." She gestured vaguely.

"Technically, so are you", Michelle reminded.

"And technically tomatoes are berries, but nobody thinks so", Stella replied.

Michelle guffawed. "Yeah, but you have superpowers now, that should even the odds. Superpowers which gave you, inadvertently. That's way beyond coincidence. Some might even say it's, I don't know -"

Stella narrowed her eyes and pointed her fork at her friend. "I swear, if you start singing 'This Isn't Love, It's Destiny', I will chuck you out of the window."

* * *

On Thursday afternoon, Stella Übered to S.T.A.R. Labs as promised. She paid the driver, took her gym bag from the backseat and turned around to gaze at the sight before her. It was the first time she had seen the place at such close distance – she didn't count the time she had been carried in unconscious and then out at superspeed. For some reason, she suddenly felt jittery from head to toe. Shaking it off, she slung the bag over her shoulder, secured her hold around the string around the cardboard box she was carrying, and started walking.

Stella had almost reached the front door when she wondered how she'd get in. It turned out she didn't need to worry, because the door was open. Which was pretty suspicious, but she counted her blessings and slipped in. The sleek entry hall was eerie without anyone behind the desk, or anywhere in sight, really.

"Good afternoon, Stella", spoke a voice, Dr. Wells's voice, suddenly from above. "I'm so glad you decided to show up."

Stella jumped and then sighed, gazing around until she spotted a camera. "You remember those creepy scientist vibes I was talking about? This", she pointed around, "is not helping."

She wasn't sure if Wells could hear her, but apparently he did, because the voice above her chuckled. It was a rather nice sound, or would have been if it wasn't coming through speakers.

"Take the elevator on your right down two floors, please. I'll come meet you."

And now he wanted her to go to the basement. It was some weird variation of the sunk cost fallacy that made her go into the elevator instead of turning around and running out of the building.

"I must be nuts", Stella muttered to herself as she pushed the button that said -2.

She barely had time to glance at her reflection in the mirror before the elevator door opened to reveal yet another dim concrete corridor. She was pretty sure she hadn't been on that particular floor, but it was one of those buildings where every place looked the same and one could easily get lost in. Fortunately she couldn't wander far before a familiar figure approached her.

"Stella", Dr. Wells smiled. The way he said her name, there was something so warm and disarming about it. And then there was the fact that he was so distractingly handsome, with that slightly messy hair and those brilliant blue eyes. Even though he looked noticeably older than he'd looked before the particle accelerator catastrophe – or maybe just a little tortured – somehow that worked for him. "Nice to see you again."

"Hi", Stella breathed. "It's nice to be here. I never would've thought I'd get invited to S.T.A.R. Labs."

She shifted on her feet, suddenly feeling very underdressed, even though Wells wasn't wearing a suit or anything, just a simple black shirt and pants and sneakers. Even though it was a very well-fitting shirt… No! Entirely wrong line of thought. She slapped herself internally and tried to remember whether she'd taken her medication that morning.

"I'm sorry you only get to see it as it is today. It was much more impressive when it was fully operational", Wells spoke as he turned around and nodded her to follow.

"It's still pretty impressive", Stella said, gazing around as she walked, relieved to have something else to look at. "I followed the building process from the magazines. But specs couldn't properly convey how huge this place actually is."

"I'm curious, though – you sounded like you figured out the connection between the accelerator accident and your powers quite early, yes?"

Stella looked back down at him. "Pretty much instantly", she smiled mildly. "Since I never had any special abilities before and suddenly had plenty… Simple cause and effect."

"But you never came forward", Wells said. "You knew I was responsible, but you never tried to contact me or seek retribution."

Stella shrugged and shifted the bag on her shoulder. "I thought about it, sometimes. But what would I have said? 'Hi, you don't know me, but you gave me superpowers'? Besides, there was the whole 'getting kidnapped to a shady lab' angle to consider", she smirked.

Wells chuckled. It was indeed a very nice sound. "Yet you came back out of your own free will", he pointed out.

"What can I say? I'm too curious for my own good, I'm the first person to admit that."

Finally they arrived at their destination, which turned out to be a big hall, at least two floors high and full of boxes and containers, some kind of a storage space. In the corner nearest to the entrance was a makeshift monitoring station, with several computers and other equipment, Cisco and the woman called Caitlin. Stella swallowed before she held up the cardboard box in both hands and strode over to them.

"Hey, Stella!" Cisco smiled brightly. Stella quickly greeted him back before she turned her attention to Caitlin, who stood there arms crossed.

"Listen, I am so sorry", Stella started before Caitlin could say anything. "I don't usually threaten people with violence, I was just in shock, I guess, and I thought you were going to dissect me or something." She presented the box forward. "I brought cupcakes to apologize. I didn't know which ones you like, so I got one of everything. I wanted to get a cake, but I thought asking the decorator to write 'I'm sorry I threatened you with levitating scalpels' would have risen some suspicion."

That roused a snort from Caitlin, at least. "Thank you. And I get why you were scared, waking up in a strange place must have been alarming." Her smile was a little stiff, but she took the box. "Is there strawberry?"

"Two kinds."

Caitlin broke into a much more genuine smile and extended her hand. "Doctor Caitlin Snow. But you can call me Caitlin."

"Stella. But you already knew that."

They shook hands, and Caitlin looked over to Cisco.

"What, no nickname yet?"

Cisco shrugged defensively. "I haven't thought of a good one yet based on telekinetic powers, they're all like -"

"Hover Girl", Stella interjected. "I saw that on a blog. Sounds like a roomba."

"I know! It's terrible!" Cisco exclaimed. "Gravitas was cool, but that's not really what you do."

"Though it's an interesting coincidence, that we're at S.T.A.R. Labs and your name means..." Caitlin remarked.

Stella glanced at Wells, who'd been watching the interaction from the sideline. "Yeah, the irony's not lost me", she grinned. "Just, please, Cisco, when you think up a nickname for me, don't make it 'star' anything. One, that would be tacky, and two, I don't want to give Dr. Wells an excuse to sue me. I can't afford that."

The three of them laughed. Wells wheeled closer to break up the party, though he too seemed amused. "Alright. Before we get caught up in copyright issues, I think we should commence with the experiment."

"Yes." "Right." Caitlin and Cisco dispersed to make some last-minute adjustments on the equipment. Stella slid the gym bag off her shoulder and set it next to the wall with her jacket. She squatted down to pat the pockets for a hairtie until she realized she had put it around her wrist.

"How are you feeling, Stella?" Wells asked.

"Well, I'm in a fight with my insurance company because they don't want to pay compensation for my bike, but otherwise I'm okay." Stella paused and looked up at him. "But you're not asking to be polite."

Wells smiled. "Not in this case. I've been thinking about the emotional component of your power and how to trigger it sufficiently for the study."

"Actually, I have a hack for that", Stella said. "It's a little silly, but it works."

* * *

Eobard watched as Cisco and Caitlin covered Stella in electrodes, similar to the ones they used to monitor Barry's Speed Force. They had slapped the same electrodes on almost everything in Storage C in order to measure the effects of the woman's power on them. He didn't actually need to oversee the process, Cisco and Caitlin knew what they were doing, but he found the meta-human woman an interesting study specimen socially as well.

"I was worried I committed some sort of a faux pas coming here in my work clothes, but I guess it actually helps", Stella said as she lifted up her arms so Caitlin could stick an electrode on her side. She was wearing sneakers, rainbow-hued leggings and a short, flowing top that kept falling off of at least one shoulder and revealing the straps of her sports bra. Like most fitness clothing these days (and in the future, too, actually), the leggings were ridiculously form-fitting and highlighted every little movement of her constantly shifting legs.

"I gotta ask, what do you actually do?" Cisco asked, focusing hard on gluing an electrode to her temple and not looking down. "I saw your Facebook profile, but it only said you work at the gym. And I was gonna friend request you, but then I thought it might be weird, and..."

"I do work at the gym, though mostly I freelance these days. I'm a personal trainer and fitness instructor. And I occasionally do dance choreography, for music videos and stuff. So, not exactly a scientist."

For a moment, her near-constant smile faltered, but it was over so fast one would've easily missed it. It was one of the rare occasions that Eobard was honestly surprised. He knew the woman wasn't a scientist or he would have found something on her, but she seemed so much brighter than the stereotypical muscle-obsessed fitness person. Maybe he had misjudged her. Or, more likely, there was something there that explained the fleeting crestfallen expression.

"That explains how you look like that. I mean – I'm just saying that -" Cisco tried to backtrack and gestured at her from head to toe. Stella giggled, and Caitlin behind her looked like she was trying hard not to laugh. "I'm gonna shut up now."

"It's fine", Stella said, still laughing. "In my profession, your body is basically your biggest advertisement space."

"And I'm sure we can all agree that it's a very good ad. Now please turn this way", Caitlin said, took the other woman's shoulders and turned her around. She took a light pen and examined Stella's pupils. "Any health issues? And when was the last time you ate?"

"About two hours ago. And I'm fine, physically. Or I should be, I haven't actually had a physical for ten months, for obvious reasons."

"Okay. Then we're ready to go", Caitlin informed Eobard. He nodded.

"Good. Stella, give the hack to Cisco."

Cisco looked puzzled, until Stella ran off to search around her bag, found a thumbdrive and threw it at him.

"It's my levitation playlist. Literally, that's what it's called", she grinned. "Songs that are sufficiently upbeat and/or just annoying enough to provoke an emotional response."

"Yes. Music stimulates the amydala, nucleus accumbens and hippocampus, affecting both base emotions and those connected to specific memories. Couldn't have come up with a better solution myself", Eobard said. Stella beamed at him, and he was quite sure her cheeks flushed. "Okay, Cisco, hit it."

Cisco pressed play in the music player. An electronic rock beat filled the storage hall and, judging by the echo, the rest of the building.

"Supermassive Black Hole", Cisco whispered, grinning.

"What?" Eobard said.

"The song, that's what it's called", Cisco explained, his grin widening. "This is gonna be awesome."

Like a dancer about to break into a solo, Stella traipsed further into the room, to stand between some heavy containers that were much bigger than her. "What do you want me to do, Dr. Wells?" she yelled over the music.

"Whatever you can do", Eobard shouted in reply as he took off his glasses. "Impress me."

The corner of her mouth tugged and her eyes flashed emerald. She cracked her knuckles far above her head and, as if she'd timed it, when the singer started, did a little pirouette and pointed her hands at the two closest containers. They rose into the air, not hovering but _shooting_ up as if by magic. Except this wasn't magic, this was better.

"The readings on those containers just shot way up!" Cisco said. "You were right, Dr. Wells, I don't know how she's doing it but she's making them vibrate so fast they're defying gravity."

"And her metabolic rate tripled", Caitlin continued. "Her vitals are fine, but she's burning a lot of energy."

Eobard was barely listening, too transfixed on the display. Stella was walking between the two rows of containers, lifting each up as she reached them, and keeping the others in the air nearly at a constant height. When she reached the end of the row, she gestured like a conductor and stacked them into a pyramid. The singer on the track kept whining, and while Eobard had always hated that kind of 'singing', now he hardly noticed it.

Eobard picked up the microphone and spoke into it. "How's your distance?"

Stella tilted her, as if thinking hard, before she ran to the closest of the two shorter walls. She reached her hand towards the opposite side of the hall, and a container slightly smaller than her shot towards her. Not only that, but she started running towards it. They met about midway, and Eobard heard Caitlin wince behind him, but at the last possible moment Stella jumped and pulled herself up onto the container. The box slowed to a halt, still hovering a couple inches off the floor, with the woman now standing on it.

"You see, this is how I usually do the flying", she shouted, obviously pleased with herself. "Much easier."

Eobard absently bit the arm of his glasses. When he had heard of the woman who held up half a bridge, he'd expected something useful but this… this was extraordinary. He wasn't yet sure how Stella would fit into his plan, but that's when he made the decision: he wanted to keep her. He needed to groom her, train her to trust him like he'd done with Barry, but when he'd be done… she would be magnificent.

"A question", he spoke again into the microphone. "Can you only move objects, or manipulate them structurally as well?"

Stella jumped down from the container and shrugged. "Superficially. I'm not Jean Grey, I can't change their molecular structure or anything fancy like that, but..."

Eobard turned to Cisco, who looked like he was in love. "Cisco, do we need to support beams over there?"

"Uh, what?" Cisco jerked awake. "Nooo, not currently, I don't think so."

Half-smiling, Eobard turned his attention back to the meta-human. "Those beams over there", he said, pointing towards them. "Would you do something to them?"

Stella pulled one over, floating it before herself. With a frown on her forehead, she bent the steel beam over into a U-shape. It obviously took a lot of energy, the readings on the screen jumped, but the point was that she could do it.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"How about a star?" Caitlin suggested.

"A little on the nose, don't you think?" Stella laughed. With a look of intense concentration and loud creaking of metal, she formed a knot out of the beam and pulled it tight, aptly as the song faded off. "How's this?" she asked and did an elaborate bow.

Cisco and Caitlin started clapping. Eobard joined them, though he hid most of his enthusiasm, even though he was probably more excited than the two of them combined. Surprisingly, so did Barry, who was standing in the doorway. It was surprising because Eobard usually sensed him before he was about to appear, and now he hadn't even noticed when Barry had arrived.

"Showing off much?" Barry grinned.

"Just a little", Stella replied. She was panting, swiping sweat from her forehead, her heart rate in the eighty percent according to the monitor. "I rarely get a whole room to throw things around in, let alone a huge hall. I used to practice in the gym after closing, but then it became a 24/7, so I don't really have an outlet anymore."

She took a few steps forward and swayed a bit. Caitlin rushed to her with the bakery box.

"Your blood sugar's low again. You just expended a whole day's worth of energy", Caitlin said. "Have a cupcake."

"We've got stores for this for Barry, I'll be right back", Cisco said and left to raid the kitchen.

Stella staggered next to the wall mostly on her own two feet, slid down and greedily bit into the cupcake. Still gasping for breath, she beamed up at Eobard.

"So… Impressed?" she asked.

Eobard smiled mildly, masking his real reaction, as he put his glasses back on. "Somewhat", he replied.

"Somewhat? Damn, you're hard to please", Stella chuckled incredulously. She had a bit of frosting on top of her upper lip, which she swiped off with the tip of her finger and then licked it off. For a fleeting moment, Eobard forgot what he was about to say.

"I… what I meant was that there is room for great improvement, according to the readings we got."

She raised her eyebrows. "You found something?"

Eobard backed away, offering his hand, and Stella let him pull her up from the floor. He led her to the computers and brought up the relevant data.

"Take a look at these", he said, pointing at the sharp spikes in the graphs. "This is the average of the readings on you. These are the boxes you lifted first. The numbers jumped from basic gravitational pull to hundreds of vibrations per second."

Stella peered over his shoulder, leaning against the back of his chair. "So you were right, unsurprisingly. The vibrations are causing the lift."

"Yes. But the pull of the -" Eobard paused and craned his neck to look at her. She was so close he felt her breath against his cheek. "How much do you know about Newtonian mechanics?"

Stella looked at him very pointedly. "Just talk to me like you'd talk to Caitlin or Cisco, instead of assuming I'm an idiot", she said rather sharply.

Well, that was an interesting nerve he had hit. "Alright then. Based on these readings, I would theorize that the mechanism behind your telekinesis is basically trifold..."

* * *

To Dr. Wells's credit, he didn't talk down to her despite knowing what she did for a living now, not even after she snapped at him. Stella was even more grateful that he didn't ask her about it. He explained the numbers and figures on the screen like he was talking to a peer, or maybe a brilliant student, but in any case, like she was his intellectual equal. It was incredibly satisfying to have some concrete information after ten months of fumbling in the dark, and besides, he had a very pleasant voice. She could have listened to him for hours.

At some point Stella relocated from hovering over his shoulder to sitting on the chair beside him so she could concentrate more on what Wells was saying and less on what he smelled like. (Something sharp and understated but ridiculously expensive.) Which was necessary, because the subject matter was challenging and she didn't know all the terminology, but she could deduce the general gist of it. She probably still invaded on his personal space a little, but as long as he didn't look like he minded, she was absolutely fine with it.

"Sorry it took so long!" shouted Cisco from the doorway when he returned. To be honest, Stella hadn't even noticed he was gone. "The slushie machine was broken. I hope you don't mind pineapple."

"No, that's fine, thanks", Stella said absently, fumbling at Cisco's general direction until her hand hit something cold, still glued to the computer monitor. She sipped on the drink, and the ice froze her brain just enough that she could pause and catch up. She looked up at Cisco. "Why do you have a slushie machine?"

"It's easy to load with sugar, plus it lowers body temperature", Caitlin answered.

"Hm", Stella said, agreeing that it made sense, and took another sip.

"So, what did you find out?" Barry asked.

"Lots of things. God, I wish I would've had some of this tech in the beginning when I was trying to figure this out", Stella sighed wistfully.

"Well, you have access to it now", Wells said. "If you want to."

Stella turned back to him, which might have been a mistake. Looking at his face, she wanted to say yes to anything, but she tried to listen to reason. In this case, reason was the gnawing suspicion at the back of her skull.

"You really want to recruit me to this operation of yours, huh?"

Wells took off his glasses, crossed his arms and rubbed the bridge of his nose. The blue light from the screens made the lines on his face deeper.

"When I turned on the particle accelerator, I wasn't planning on releasing largely unknown energies upon the city, or causing people to develop superhuman abilities, but that is the situation now. However, I still believe we can make some good of this", he spoke. "The opportunities for medical cures and scientific breakthroughs by studying meta-humans like you and Barry are endless. That is all I want in exchange."

Stella swallowed. She looked about the expectant faces around her.

"Dr. Wells has helped me a lot", Barry said quietly. "I couldn't do what I do without him."

"Thanks, Barry", Cisco said dryly.

"And Cisco and Caitlin too", Barry added. "Look, I'm not gonna pretend to know you after a few days. But I do know that you could have levitated away and saved yourself on that bridge, but instead you stuck around to help all the other people even though it almost killed you. Like it or not, that says something about you."

"Damn it, Barry, you should go into politics", Stella said in a weak voice. "Would you all be okay with it if I kept showing up?"

Everybody turned to look at Caitlin.

"What?" she said. "I'm okay with it. But more cupcakes would be nice. The strawberry ones."

"Gotcha", Stella smirked. She looked at Wells. "I'm not promising to sign up for anything yet. But I'll come back and let you poke me with some needles, for the greater good and all that."

"Like I said, that's all I ask." Wells smiled at her in a way that made her heart flutter in her chest.


	4. Chapter 4

The next time Stella arrived at S.T.A.R. Labs, the day following the big blackout, the sun was still in the process of rising in the horizon. With no idea where to go, she wandered around a bit until she heard a stomping noise like someone running on a treadmill, only much faster. She sneaked to the open doorway and froze up in it as if hit by a forcefield. It was a treadmill, just much more heavy-set and industrial than any she'd seen before, and Barry was running on it. Though the only part of him she could properly make out was the head, the rest were a blur. Dr. Wells was monitoring him on the computers. Stella didn't want to interrupt anything, so she waited until Barry stopped running.

"And you say I'm a show-off", she said, clapping slowly. Both men jumped a bit, not having noticed she was there.

"At least I'm not playing music in the background", Barry threw back, leaning his hands on his knees and panting.

"Good morning, Stella", Wells said as he turned to face her.

"Morning", Stella replied. Once again she suddenly found it hard to be very coherent. "Am I interrupting something? You said to come whenever, and I had a little free time, but I can come back later."

Wells shook his head. "No, we're just about done. Usually Barry isn't this early."

"Neither am I", Stella admitted. She suppressed a yawn as pulled herself a chair and dropped down. "But I have a few clients who only have time to work out godawfully early in the morning, so… At least I can bill extra for unconventional hours", she grinned. "You wouldn't happen to have any coffee?"

"I'll get you some after we've drawn the blood", Wells promised. "It's better not to have any unnecessary substances in the samples."

"You two have fun with that, I'm gonna go take a shower and head to work", Barry said as he walked past them. He was already out the door when Stella remembered she had been planning to talk to him.

"Oh, hey, Barry!" She shot up from her seat and peered out of the doorway into the corridor. Luckily he hadn't been super-speeding to the showers. "You work for the police, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Barry said said as he stopped and turned around.

"Have they found out anything about the bridge explosions? Because the newspapers mentioned bombs, but otherwise they're still all 'no comment'."

Barry spread his hands. "Not much. They were remotely detonated at different times, and some of them not at all, so the bomber mostly likely had a line of sight to the scene. But I didn't have time to go look for him then because, well, you know", he grinned. "Why, are you planning to go hunt down whoever did it?"

"Hardly", Stella huffed. "I just thought that if the guy was caught, maybe my insurance company would finally pay for my motorcycle. I've had to Über so much, it gets expensive."

"You could just get a new motorcycle", Dr. Wells, who had joined her in the doorway, pointed out. "Or a car or some other safer vehicle."

"Yeah, but it was a really nice bike. Like, way nicer than I could actually afford." Stella shrugged and slipped her hands into her pockets. "I know, priorities. Let's just go poke me with needles, shall we?"

* * *

They went to a different part of the facility where most of the biochem labs were located. Dr. Wells began to explain to her what tests he was going to run on her blood, but her attention was quickly diverted to the black marks on the walls as they turned a corner.

"What happened here?" Stella wondered, brushing her hand over the damaged steel. "These look like… lightning strikes or something."

"We had an uninvited guest", Wells replied somewhat reluctantly. "A very dissatisfied uninvited guest."

"Wait", Stella said as she put two and two together. "The blackout yesterday – this has something to do with that, doesn't it?"

"It does. It was – are you sure you want to know?" Wells asked, crossing his fingers. "I don't want to scare you away because of a few outliers."

Stella frowned. "Seriously?" she scoffed. "I think I qualify as one of those outliers. If I'm going to be on board with this, I want to know _everything_."

She half expected him to argue her, to say that she couldn't handle it or he couldn't trust her with such sensitive information. But instead, he simply nodded, and she liked him even more.

"Alright. His name was Farooq Gibran, though Cisco posthumously named him Blackout. ..."

Wells told her about the electrokinetic meta-human, and some of the others too, and Stella listened with wide eyes. Apparently, she wasn't nearly the first meta-human they had encountered after Barry, though she was the first one who wasn't either a criminal and/or dead. Which was a little disconcerting, but it explained why they were so adamant on her staying. She was much more concerned when Wells got to the part where Blackout had attacked him.

"Oh my god", Stella gasped, clasping her hands over her mouth. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine", Wells said, trying to brush it off. They had arrived at their destination, a small laboratory room with a centrifuge and other standard chemistry equipment. And, thankfully, a coffee maker in the corner. "Barry saved me and defeated Gibran by overloading him. Gibran died as a result, unfortunately."

"'Unfortunately'? He wanted to kill you!"

Wells smiled. "He's not the first one, or most likely the last. Please, have a seat", he said as he went to turn on the coffee maker. "So you can understand why we were a little concerned about you at first."

"Me?" Stella wondered as she dropped down onto the nearby stool. "You thought I wanted to – why would I want to kill you?"

Wells raised an eyebrow. "Because I'm responsible for the incident that changed you irrevocably, on a fundamental level, however inadvertently?"

"Yeah, you did, but I'm not mad about it", Stella said, slowly shaking her head. She had a hard time wrapping her head around the idea that she would want to hurt this man. "I know that some other metas haven't been as lucky, but I can lift cars and stop bullets and hold up bridges. That is _amazing_. I have no reason to be angry at you. If anything, I'm... grateful, as grateful as one can be about something completely accidental."

Wells looked at her with an intense, but unreadable expression before he searched the cupboards for a blood drawing kit and returned to her. "Well, you are rather extraordinary, then, in more ways than one", he spoke as he took her wrist and drew up her sleeve. Her heart skipped a couple of beats. "But a lot of people were, and still are, angry at me because of the particle accelerator. They don't think I've suffered nearly enough for all the damage I caused."

"Even though -" Stella bit her lip and closed her mouth before she could finish. She made conscious effort to look into his eyes and not at the wheelchair, hardly aware when the needle slid into her elbow. "It's not fair", she said quietly. "I read everything about your plans for the accelerator when it was being built. It was supposed to change the world, push past the barriers of current scientific ability… You made something remarkable, and yes, it blew up in your face, but that was an accident. It's not right that everyone keeps hating on you for it."

Dr. Wells's eyes were looked bright in the fluorescent lights. "You are one of the few people who see it that way", he said quietly.

"I couldn't not see it", Stella said. "When I was a child, I used to sneak up to the rooftop at night, look at the stars and think 'I wanna go there'. Though it wasn't just a thought, it was an all-consuming obsession, the need to go further than no-one else had gone before." She chuckled a bit. "I didn't become an astronaut, but I still remember that feeling. I couldn't possibly blame you for following it."

Wells pulled the needle out of her elbow and pressed a sterile dressing on it. He kept holding it there, even though she could have done it herself. "Why didn't you become an astronaut?" he asked.

Stella swallowed as she smiled. "It's a long story", she said and pulled her arm back as she stood up, walking over to the coffee maker that had stopped dripping. "So what are you hoping to find? You were explaining it to me but we got a little sidetracked", she said lightly, eager to change the subject. She picked one of the clean-looking mugs with the S.T.A.R. Labs logo and poured coffee in it.

"For one, I want to see your rate of cellular regeneration", Wells replied and thankfully didn't push the previous subject. " The amount of calories your system burns when you use your powers suggests an increased metabolism, which would support the theory that your healing ability is increased as well."

"It is. I could've told you that if you'd asked", Stella smiled as she turned back towards him.

Wells raised an eyebrow. "You've tested it?"

Stella chuckled. She levitated a couple of sugar cubes from the bowl and dropped them into the cup. "Not intentionally, but the time I found out I could stop bullets was also, incidentally, the first time in my life when I got shot", she recalled. "It was about a month and a half ago, I think? I stumbled onto a mugger holding an old man at gunpoint. I thought I could just rattle some trashcans and scare him off, but I guess he freaked out, because unloaded his weapon. At me." She paused to sip the hot black liquid. "I stopped almost all the bullets. I just wasn't fast enough to catch the first one and it grazed me. Luckily my best friend is a nurse and stitched me up afterwards."

"Where did it hit you?"

Stella lifted up the hem of her shirt a bit. "Somewhere around here", she gestured on the line between her abs and obliques. "I can't even find it anymore, the wound healed up in about two weeks."

A curious frown on his forehead, Dr. Wells wheeled closer. She had expected him to be curious; what she had not expected was him reaching his hand and laying his fingers on the area she had pointed out.

"There's not even scar tissue", he spoke, intrigued, as his fingertips stroked the skin. "Just a slight discoloration if one knows where to look."

Stella was frozen, clutching the coffee cup with both hands too terrified to even breathe. She thought she could feel his breath against her skin, or maybe she was just hypersensitive due to the fact that Dr. Wells was touching her stomach. Not obeying her orders, her abdominal muscles twitched on their own accord.

"I'm sorry", Wells said, smiling a disarming smile as he looked up to her eyes. "Are you ticklish?"

"A little", Stella replied in a small voice, nearly whimpering. She was simultaneously disappointed and relieved when he backed away.

"I'll have to file that away for the future", Wells said. There was an edge in his smile, the way he quirked his eyebrow, that hadn't been there before. "If you go rogue, we'll know your one weakness."

"And there you go thwarting my perfectly good plan for your demise", Stella joked, laughing nervously. Afraid she'd do something… impulsive if this continued, she strode over to the medical table where she'd left her jacket and bag and made a big fuss out of searching for her cellphone. "Listen, as much as I'd like to stay, I gotta run, I have a choreography I need to be directing in about, uh, twenty minutes. Let me know if you find anything interesting, okay?"

"Of course. Don't let me keep you", Wells said, still smiling. It was almost like he knew what that smile was doing to her, that she would definitely let him keep her… Stella gave her head a quick shake to banish the distracting line of thought.

"One thing, though", she said before she was out the door. "Next time someone shows up to pick a fight? Call me. If there's any asskicking happening, I want in on it."

Wells chuckled. "I promise I will."

"Great." Stella ducked out, then realized the mostly full coffee cup was still in her hand, and peeked back in. "Hey, uh, can I keep this?"

* * *

The choreography practices ate most of Stella's next few days, so she didn't see anyone from the S.T.A.R. Labs until she literally ran into one of them in the cafe. She had been going to the Jitters near the studio in the mornings and sometimes after work for her daily dose of caffeine. That morning she was so engrossed in reading the test results and resulting speculations Dr. Wells had e-mailed her on her tablet that she accidentally walked into the person in line behind her. That person turned out to be Barry.

"Oh, hey Stella!" Barry smiled as he looked over his shoulder, and turned around. "What are you doing here?"

"Getting coffee?" Stella smirked. "But if you mean here here, I'm directing a choreography two blocks away, so this is convenient, plus the cappuccinos are great."

"I see. Good book?" He pointed at the tablet she had poked him in the back with.

"Oh, no, it's not a book. It's", Stella lowered her voice as she slid the tablet into her bag, "my blood test results. Turns out my healing factor is about four times as fast as a normal person's. Obviously nothing compared to yours, but..."

"You have super healing and you're complaining it's not super enough?" Barry grinned.

"I'm not complaining, I'm just saying it could be much better." Stella crossed her arms and frowned in deep thought. "Wonder if there's some kind of a biohack to increase it."

Barry shook his head, amused. "By the way, you might be interested to know, we caught the guy who blew up the bridge."

Stella's eyebrows rose. "Great, who was it? And also, why?"

"His name's Alexander Maddock, he's an explosives expert for hire. We found the apartment he was using to watch the scene and remotely detonate the bombs. As for motive, he's not talking, but considering his track record, he was probably not doing it for his own agenda", Barry told her. "Why do you look so concerned?"

Stella's brows had dropped into a deep frown. "I just feel like I know who that is. Like I've heard that name before."

Barry shrugged. "He's been arrested before, maybe you've seen him in the news."

The customer before them left the counter and they stepped up. Behind the counter was a beautiful, young Black woman whose name tag read Iris and who smiled brightly at Barry.

"Hey Barry! Who's your friend?"

"Hi Iris", Barry replied, a little startled. "This is Stella. She's, uh -"

"Been helping Barry with his post-coma physical therapy", Stella lied smoothly. "God knows he needs it, his bench press numbers are embarrassing", she grinned as she rested her elbow on Barry's shoulder.

"Thanks for that", Barry said dryly. "But yeah, that's how we know each other. Stella, this is Iris, she's my best friend slash kind of adopted sister."

"Good to meet you", Iris smiled. "So what can I get you?"

"A double chocolate cappuccino with whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles", Stella said and glanced at the clock. "To go, please, as I'm apparently late again."

"And I'll have the usual", Barry said.

They paid for their coffees, or Barry did; Iris insisted that Stella's drink was on the house for helping Barry.

"She's very pretty", Stella commented as they sat by a table to wait. "And seems nice, too."

"Yeah, she's great", Barry agreed enthusiastically. Stella grinned.

"How long have you been crushing on her?"

Barry spattered despite not drinking anything yet. "How did you – I am not!" he argued, whispering frantically.

Stella laughed. "Please. It's pretty obvious. You look at her like a lovesick puppy."

She stared at Barry knowingly until he shook his head, dejected.

"I should have left you on that bridge", he muttered. Stella laughed again as she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket; it was an unknown number, but she didn't think anything of it before she answered.

"Hello, Stella Carrick?"

"Hello, beautiful", spoke a low, masculine voice on the other end.

It was a good thing Stella didn't have her coffee yet, because she would have spat it out. "How did you get this number?" she hissed. "Never mind, doesn't matter – just don't call me again."

She was about to disconnect when she heard something that stopped her. "You'd rather I did something more drastic to get your attention, like last week?"

Stella felt like her insides froze. Barry was looking at her with a look of concern, but she hardly saw him. "You – you did that? Why?"

"I knew it would take a grand display to get to you", the voice continued. "You always liked flashy things."

Her eyes narrowed. "People could have died!" she whispered. "What do you want?"

"You", was the simple answer. " _All_ of you."

Then the call ended. Stella stared at the phone screen in a haze until Barry waved his hand in front of her face.

"What was that about, are you okay?" he asked.

Stella turned to look at him slowly. "Barry, I know who hired Maddock", she said. "And I think I know why."

* * *

The next time Stella went to S.T.A.R. Labs, it wasn't to see Dr. Wells and the others. She was there to meet Barry's guardian, Joe West, who also happened to be the only cop in the CCPD who knew about meta-humans, probably because Barry was such a lousy liar.

"So Barry said you know who's really behind the bridge bombing?" Joe said after they had been introduced. Stella nodded and walked to the middle of the room, trying to ignore the fact that everyone was looking at her. Everyone else she could handle, but Dr. Wells… she would have rather he didn't hear this. She sighed resolutely and tapped on the tabled in her hand, and a square-jawed, blonde man's face filled the screen on the wall.

"This is Graham King. A moderately wealthy businessman, closeted criminal and all-around scumbag", Stella said. "He inherited several businesses from his father, only he didn't inherit his dad's business sense, so he turned to less legal endeavors to make the ends meet and fund his extravagant lifestyle. Turns out, that's about the only thing he is good at. He's the person who hired Maddock to blow up the bridge."

Joe raised his eyebrows. "And you know this how?"

"I know Maddock has done jobs for King in the past, I've actually met him once, that's where I remember him from", she nodded to Barry. "And because King called me to gloat."

"Why did he call you?" Caitlin asked. "How do you know him?"

Stella bit her lip and dropped her gaze to the floor. "Because I used to date him", she said slowly. "But I broke up with him about ten months ago, and made it pretty clear I didn't want to see him again."

"Was that before or after the particle accelerator blew up?" Barry asked.

"After. Like very shortly after", Stella replied.

"What does this have to do with -" Joe paused and squinted at her. "Wait, are you one of those…?"

Stella hesitated and looked at Barry.

"He knows about me", Barry answered her unvoiced question. "He's trustworthy."

Stella sighed. "What the hell, I've already outed myself to more people in the last couple of weeks than the past ten months", she decided. She reached towards the chair Joe was sitting on and after a bit of wavering, the chair rose up in the air.

"Whoa, that is freaky!" Joe exclaimed, holding onto the edges of the seat as Stella carefully put it back down.

"It's awesome, right?" Cisco grinned.

Joe blinked and looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. "You were the woman on the bridge?" he guessed.

Stella shrugged vaguely positively. "That's how I ended up meeting these guys", she gestured around the table. "The thing is, I always thought that the fact that I was on that bridge at that exact time was just bad luck. Or good luck, depends how you look at it." She smiled mildly. "But the way King spoke about it, it sounded like he knew I'd be there. Like he did it to get to me."

Joe frowned. "Does he know you're a meta-human?"

Stella shrugged again. "I don't know if he did before, but if he didn't before, he does know. Maddock must have told him before he was caught." She ran her hands through her hair, stared at the ceiling and sighed. "The thing is, King is a collector, that's how he operates. He amasses properties and fancy cars and girlfriends of a specific ethnicity -" she grimaced, "and people who can do his dirty work… So it's possible he's now collecting meta-humans."

The room was quiet for a while. Stella looked around the table, at everyone else except Dr. Wells. He hadn't said anything during the whole presentation, and somehow that made her even more nervous, like he was just silently judging her.

"Well, thanks for telling me about all this", Joe said as he stood up. "We'll investigate and hopefully find a way to connect King to the explosions. And don't worry", he smiled, "your secret's safe with me."

"Actually", Stella said, "I might be able to help with that."

She tapped again on the tablet, and the big screen changed into a map of the city with dozens of red dots and small notes.

"I suspected he wouldn't take the news well, so before I told him I was breaking up with him, I sort of… hacked his computer and downloaded all the details of his operation, as an insurance policy. He used to be a legitimate businessman, so he still kept meticulous records even of his criminal activities."

"That's… a lot of shady stuff", Cisco spoke. "Why did you go out with this guy?"

Stella frowned. "Let's just say I wasn't in a good headspace and leave it at that, okay?" She took a thumbdrive from her pocket and walked over to Joe. "It should all be here. The people that worked for him, the things he ordered them to do… I mean, it's ten months old, but it should have something you can use to get him."

Joe glanced between her and the big screen. "I'm just gonna ignore the fact that you did something very questionably legal to extort a crime boss", he said as he took the drive. "Because if this pans out, we'll get him. Just… don't do it again, alright?"

"Of course, never", Stella replied with wide eyes. Joe shook his head.

"And until we arrest King, stay safe. Seeing as you've got those crazy levitation powers and you know the Flash, it shouldn't be hard, but still."

"I'll be fine", Stella assured. "I moved after I broke up with him, my mail goes to a PO box… If he knew where I live, he'd have come knocking instead of blowing up a damn bridge."

After Joe left, Stella left the room too, unable to handle the feeling that everybody was judging her. With good reason, she was judging herself for ever sinking so low as to date someone like Graham King, but that didn't make it easier. Exhaling heavily, she leaned against the corridor wall and sank down.

* * *

 _Stella arrived at the five-star restaurant in a little black dress, hair curled at the top of her head, a quarter after seven. King didn't stand up as she reached the table, he just kept sipping his wine and watching her appraisingly._

" _You're late again, doll", he spoke._

" _Sorry", Stella said, not even pretending to mean it. "But this shouldn't take long. I'm not staying for dinner."_

 _King raised his eyebrows. Stella cleared her throat and continued._

" _I'm done, Graham. I can't do this anymore", she said. "I already moved my stuff out of the apartment, so you can do whatever you want with it."_

 _His eyes narrowed as he leaned forward. "You're… breaking up with me?" he said slowly, as if he didn't quite understand the concept._

" _Yes", Stella replied. "I'm sorry, but it's over. Goodbye, Graham."_

 _She was about to stand up when a strong hand closed around her wrist._

" _You think you can just walk away from me?" King spoke low under the general murmur of the restaurant. "After everything I've given you?"_

" _I never asked for any of those things", Stella whispered. "They were like… bribes, and I'm not taking them anymore."_

 _He scoffed. "I didn't hear any complaints at the time."_

 _Stella's jawline tightened. "Look. The kind of woman you want… I'm not her. And I can't pretend to be her any longer", she said. "This is not a discussion, it's done. We're done. Let go of me."_

 _The fist around her wrist tightened, but she was prepared for it. She opened her purse and dug out a small thumbdrive._

" _You see this? This is all the details of your illegal operations. I've made several copies on different platforms. If you come after me, I'll deliver this to the authorities and the press. If something were to happen to me, the automated mechanism will kick in and do the same thing."_

 _King blinked, frowning. "How did you get that?"_

 _Stella smiled mildly. "I broke into your office when you were sleeping", she said. "You see, I'm a pretty smart girl. Smart enough to take you down if you don't let me go."_

 _The hold around her wrist loosened, and Stella pulled her hand back. Smiling triumphantly, she slipped the drive back into her purse and walked out of the restaurant._

* * *

Stella stirred from the memory when she heard the now familiar hum of a wheelchair approaching. Wearily she wiped the corners of her eyes and lifted up her head.

"You don't have to say anything", she said. "I know I was stupid to date a man like that, I should have known it'd come back to bite me in the ass at some point."

Wells shook his head. "That's not what I came here for", he said. "I just wanted to know if you're okay."

Stella shrugged. "I just don't want everyone – and you especially – to think that I'm..." She gestured vaguely, unwilling to voice all the possible options.

"Stella." Wells leaned forward and reached a hand to lift up her chin. Like every time he touched her, she felt like her heart skipped a beat. "I don't think any less of you because of anything you just told us. You made a mistake – anyone who's ever done anything has made mistakes. What you did to get out of that situation was brave and clever. Possibly illegal, but clever."

Stella swallowed. "I keep thinking that I should have given all that info to the police in the first place, to put King away. Instead I just selfishly kept it for my own protection."

"There's nothing wrong with protecting yourself."

"Barry would have done it. He's so… selfless and honest and sincere." Stella shook her head. "I know you asked me to stay to have another superhero, but I'm not like the Flash. I'm just an adrenaline junkie with an underdeveloped sense of self-preservation."

"You don't have to be like The Flash to be valuable", Wells said. "You may not see it, but I think you're worth protecting. All of us do."

"I can't ask you to protect me", Stella whispered. "It's my own fault, I need to deal with it myself."

Wells smiled mildly. "Didn't you just volunteer to come and fight the next person who showed up to threaten me for my much bigger mistake?"

"Yes but that's different", Stella argued. Wells raised an eyebrow.

"Different how?"

Stella opened her mouth but couldn't come up with anything logically sound.

"Now, I may not be able to physically protect you, but I can train you to become stronger, better, powerful enough that you don't have to fear anybody." Wells offered her his hand. "If you let me."

Stella looked from the outstretched hand to the eyes of the man she had so long admired from lightyears away and who was now telling her he considered her valuable enough to protect. It was bizarre, like a daydream that wouldn't fade when she pinched her arm. She knew declining Dr. Wells's offer would have been the selfless choice, that staying would put him and everyone else in more danger. But it was her heart, not her head that made her take his hand.

"It will not be easy", Wells warned. "And probably not painless."

"Doesn't matter", Stella said. "I'll do it. Just tell me how."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** If I did chapter titles, this one would be called 'Petty Jealousy'. I know it's childish and stupid but oh-so-entertaining.  
Also, I don't watch Arrow so forgive me if Felicity's or Oliver's characterizations seem off, I'm just going by what I've seen of them on the Flash. (I love Felicity though and I hope I can include her in this fic again later.)

* * *

In light of the new development, helping Stella hone her powers became a more pressing concern for the S.T.A.R. Labs team. To be honest, Barry was sort of grateful to be out of the spotlight for a while, so he eagerly helped put together training exercises for the telekinetic woman. (Incidentally, 'The Telekinetic Woman' was also one of Cisco's naming ideas, but he dismissed it as boring, way too long and a little too oldschool.) He assisted Dr. Wells and Cisco rig a training course in one of the storage bays: crates bolted to the floor to function as buildings and obstacles, and drones that shot miscellaneous stuff at her to stop and/or deflect. To Stella's credit, she always seemed to be game for whatever Dr. Wells invented to throw at her.

As much was evident that day when Barry walked into the training room to find music blaring, Cisco refilling the launching rigs of his drones and Stella doing push-ups on the floor. That variation where you took of hands off the floor in between and clapped, because she was a damn show-off. She had also, as she often did, discarded her shirt and was wearing just a sports bra with leggings and fingerless gloves.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Barry asked. "You don't think you're fit enough already?"

"Well, Dr. Wells said", Stella paused to push up and clap, the sound echoing against the metal walls, "that my power output is more consistent", another push and a clap, "if I keep my heart rate up. Hence, this." She finished, sat up on her calves and wiped sweat from her forehead. "Which is probably true, if it works the same way it works for normal athletic endeavors, but at this point I'm suspecting he just likes to watch me sweat."

"I heard that!" Wells called from the monitoring station, not even looking up from the computer.

"I know you did!" Stella shouted back, grinning. She grabbed the half-empty slushie nearby and drank up. "Anyway, what's up, Barry?"

"The Arrow is in town", Barry said. "He's working a case."

Stella raised her eyebrows. "You're friends with the Arrow? Is there like, a superhero Facebook where you guys network?"

Barry laughed. "Yeah, no, we just… we go back. But one of his friends is here, you should meet her, I think you two would get along."

"Miss Smoak is here?" said Wells, who had wheeled closer so he didn't have to shout. "Tell her I'd like to have a word at some point." Barry happened to glance at Stella, who suddenly looked a lot less cheerful than usually. "But how about one more run before that? I took the targeting program up a notch, to give you a bit of challenge."

"Sounds good", Stella said. "I don't think I can do any more push-ups."

Wells smiled. "It's your own fault you have to do so many. If you were less fit, your heart rate would spike faster."

Stella tilted her head and gave him an incredulous look. "I can't believe you found a way to complain about that too", she breathed. "First you think I'm sloppy, now I'm too fit – I mean, really?"

"All I said was that you expend a lot more energy than would be necessary if you focused the field of effect", Wells said. "But we can debate that later. Are you ready?"

"I'm always ready", Stella smirked, winking, put the slushie down and stood up smoothly.

"Good. Here's what I want you to do..."

Barry went to safety of the monitoring station to avoid being hit by flying tennis balls. Which wouldn't have hurt that much if Cisco hadn't stuffed them with something metal to pose more of a threat.

"Try not to break any more of my drones, please!" Cisco shouted as he jogged past Stella and Wells.

"That was a reflex, I said I'm sorry!" Stella replied.

Cisco joined Barry at the computers. "It's kind of weird, isn't it?" he said under his breath. "To watch her being so flirty with Dr. Wells?"

"I think the weirder part is that he might be flirting back", Barry replied. Cisco shuddered. Barry raised an eyebrow. "Jealous?"

Cisco scoffed and crossed his arms. "Nah. Maybe I was a bit interested at first, I mean, she's gorgeous and funny and smart and has a tattoo of the freaking Drake equation, but..." He shook his head. "I know it's not me she keeps coming back for."

Barry watched as Stella laughed at something Wells had just said to her, laying her hand oh-so-casually on his shoulder for a moment. Yeah, definitely not.

* * *

Dr. Wells had definitely ramped up the difficulty for the last round. Whereas before the drones had been flying in pattern Stella could recognize and anticipate, now they seemed to be following her so closely she wondered if the man had casually programmed AI into them. Also, she was supposed to simply dodge the red tennis balls and only block the green ones. Which sounded simple on paper, but less so when they were coming at her at several dozen miles per hour and were filled with led, or that's how it felt like when one hit her thigh. The exercise was more about reflexes than power, and she quickly came to terms with the fact that her reflexes were still at very non-meta level.

"Woohoo, score!" Cisco celebrated on the speakers over the music as he saw the the tennis ball hit her via the drone's camera.

"What are you gloating about, that was all due to my programming", Dr. Wells pointed out, though he too sounded too smug for her liking in the current situation.

"Maybe, but it's my drone and my very accurate launching rig", Cisco argued.

"Guys, if you need to fight over bragging rights, can you do it off the mic?" Stella shouted as she jumped up and telekinetically helped herself on top of the large shipping container. Which she realized, a second after reaching the top, was a bad move since the drones could fly. She yelped and jumped down, ducking behind another container as three red blurs came shooting at her. Before she could sigh out of relief, she heard a menacing whirring on her right. At least these balls were green, so she was allowed to catch them. She hovered them with her, and when the next set of red balls came whizzing at her, threw the green balls at them so hard they broke on impact.

"Yesss", Stella hissed triumphantly. No way Wells could complain about her precision after that.

Maybe it was thinking about Wells that distracted her for a critical half second. When something shot at her head, all she could think was 'duck!' and dropped down on her hands and toes. Unfortunately that made her an excellent target for three more tennis balls that hit her around the shoulder blades and made her yell out loud.

The music cut out and Wells spoke to her on the speakers. "Stella, are you alright?" At least he sounded concerned, that comforted her a little bit.

"I'm fine!" Stella yelled back. Hissing, she pushed herself off the floor, rubbed her scratched elbow and saw Barry in the doorway next to a tall, pretty blond woman in glasses, blue dress and high red heels. She had a sneaking suspicion this was who Barry wanted her to meet, and who of course had arrived just in time to see Stella get her ass kicked by drones.

"Hi!" the woman greeted with a small wave as Stella walked closer. "I'm Felicity Smoak. You must be Stella, Barry told me about you."

Stella raised an eyebrow. "He did?" she said as she slipped off her glove and shook Felicity's carefully manicured hand. "I'd like to make a disclaimer that I usually do better than this."

"Oh, no, I was watching before you got hit, you were good", Felicity said.

"I agree", Dr. Wells said as he reached them. "What happened, Stella?"

"I, uh..." Stella racked her brain trying to think of something other than ' _I started thinking about you and got distracted_ '. "I just dodged in the wrong direction and got overwhelmed."

Wells tilted his head, examining her. Why did he have to be so damn perceptive, it was like he _knew_. "Alright. But before that, you did quite well, even with the modified programming. The block was a nice touch, very precise", he said, and Stella beamed under his praise. "Now, if you'll excuse us, I'd like to have a word with Felicity."

"Sure, I was gonna go grab lunch anyway, either of you guys hungry?"

"I could eat", Felicity said.

 _Splendid_ , Stella thought and ducked out of the Danger Room, as Cisco had named it. Barry followed her down the corridor.

"So what'd you think about Felicity?" Barry asked.

Stella shrugged. "She seems nice, and very pretty", she added. "You said she works with the Arrow, but what does she do?"

"She's a computer scientist, she's super smart", Barry replied.

"Of course she is", Stella muttered. Barry frowned.

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing", Stella said quickly and dug out a twenty from her bag. "Hey, can I bribe you to get me and Felicity something to eat?"

* * *

While Stella took a shower, Big Belly Burger bags had appeared on the rec room table. She plopped down in a chair, rubbed her sore shoulder blade that would probably bruise magnificently, and dug out some fries despite not feeling very hungry anymore. Especially not when Felicity Smoak walked into the room.

"Why do I feel like every time I come here, you guys are eating fast food?" Felicity asked. "How do you stay so fit?"

Stella shrugged. "Me and Barry have meta-human metabolisms, our powers burn a lot of energy. The other three I have no explanation for", she said and continued as lightly as possible. "So what did Dr. Wells want?"

"He just wanted to know who the Arrow is", Felicity replied as she took out fries and a hamburger. "I can understand why he's concerned, but of course I couldn't tell him."

Stella blinked. "Oh."

"'Oh'? What did you think he would -" Felicity's eyes widened. "Oh, no, it's not like that! He's not – I'm not – I mean, he's brilliant and I admire him, but no."

The other woman seemed sincere, but Stella still raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Really?"

Felicity shrugged as she sat down. "He's a bit too old for my tastes, and not really my type anyway. Let's just say I have my sights hopelessly set in another direction." She grinned as she picked up a fry. "Besides, I don't think I could compete with a woman with ridiculous abs _and_ telekinetic superpowers."

Stella almost choked on her Coca-Cola. "What do you – I didn't –" she stammered, coughing hard.

Felicity laughed. "It's okay, I get it", she reassured. "Though I would've thought you'd be into, like, really beefcakey guys."

Stella shook her head. "Nah. I train those guys for a living, when I look at them all I can see is their gym programs", she said. "I prefer brains over brawn. Not that certain brainy people don't have very nice physiques too."

"Despite being in a wheelchair?" Felicity smirked. "I know. I mean, with those shirts he wears, it's kind of hard not to notice."

"I know, right?" Stella agreed enthusiastically. "He probably thinks I'm an idiot because I every time I'm talking to him, I keep getting so distracted by his shoulders and biceps and -"

She abruptly cut herself off at the sound of footsteps. Moments later Caitlin appeared and smiled at the two of them.

"Hey, what were you two talking about?" Caitlin asked, unsuspect, as she walked past them to the coffee maker.

"Nothing", Stella and Felicity replied in unison, met each other's eyes and cracked up. Okay, maybe Barry was right. Stella could see herself getting along with Felicity much better than she initially thought.

* * *

This day was not going as planned. Stella's training had progressed well enough, she worked hard and most of the time listened to Eobard's instructions, even if she grumbled about them. One advantage she had over Barry was that she had been an athlete long before the explosion hit her, with the level of stamina and spatial awareness and control that followed. Eobard could push her that much harder and she just did it, she made her body obey. It was beautiful, really, and despite her quip about the fact… he did enjoy watching her sweat.

But then Barry had failed to capture Bivolo, and Felicity had refused to tell him the Arrow's identity. Eobard's patience was already wearing thin when Felicity got a phone call.

"That was the Arrow", she informed them as she got off the phone. "He says Barry is acting strangely."

Eobard frowned. "Strangely how?"

"He's been whammied", Joe said as he strode into the cortex. "He was acting angry, it was scary. And his eyes… they glowed."

"Goddamnit", Stella spoke beside Cisco, summing up Eobard's thoughts perfectly. "But why is it hitting only now and not before?"

"It's possible that his body is fighting off the effect, so it's hitting him slower", Caitlin mused.

"When it comes to rage, that is not a good thing", Eobard said. "The longer you suppress your emotions -"

"The bigger the explosion", Felicity finished.

"Considering what he can do, how do we even stop him?" Joe wondered.

"I'll do it", Stella said, standing up from her chair. All five of the others turned to look at her.

"Stella -" Eobard started.

"That was the deal, right? You help me become better and I help you catch rogue metas", Stella said as she circled around the table. "Granted, I didn't think one of those metas would be Barry, but -"

"Stella!" Eobard interrupted her. "I was going to say be careful, but then I remembered who I'm talking to. So all I'm going to say is, I want you both back in one piece."

"Roger that." Stella smiled at him, bright as her namesakes in the sky, before she traipsed over to search her bag. Caitlin looked at him skeptically.

"Is this a good idea? We don't even know how to cure Barry yet."

"I figured I'll just throw him around a bit until he's burned the rage out of his system", Stella said as she put on her leather jacket and zipped it up.

"And if that doesn't work?" Caitlin asked.

Stella shrugged. "We'll burn that bridge when we get to it."

Despite his current mood, Eobard smiled. That recklessness and energy, as hazardous as it could be, was quickly becoming his favorite thing about the woman. She _was_ always ready. He hadn't even needed to ask her.

"I'll call the Arrow, he can help you", Felicity said.

"I'm totally on board with this", Cisco said, "except how are you gonna find him? He deactivated his tracker a while back."

Stella smirked as she slipped on a pair of big, orange sunglasses. "Bird's eye view."

* * *

Even though Stella had practiced what she liked to call hoverboarding quite a bit, it was a whole different matter to do it high in the sky over buildings than a few feet off the floor in a safe, confined environment. If she had been the kind of person who stopped to consider before she decided to do something… well, she probably still would have done it, but she might have realized how high the average building in Central City was. At least lack of emotional response wasn't a problem, the adrenaline kept her steadily in the air.

"Guys, any sign of him?" Stella spoke to the Bluetooth earbuds she was using as a communicator. They had already spotted Barry once attacking Iris's boyfriend, which wasn't a good sign but made sense. The Arrow had caught him first, but Barry had dragged him off somewhere and disappeared again. "Wait, nevermind, I think I found them."

There was a red blur running up the side of a building and a human-shaped figure falling down. Stella sped up and reached for the falling figure, landing him safely on his feet on the ground.

"Who the hell are you?" Oliver asked as Stella curved up next to him and landed the vaguely skateboard-shaped metal plate.

"Your backup", Stella replied. "Or technically I guess you're my backup. And you're welcome, by the way."

"I had it under control", Oliver replied gruffly. Stella rolled her eyes behind the sunglasses as Barry ran back down.

"Can we save that debate until after we've dealt with mister hothead here?" Stella stepped forward and raised up her hand. "Sorry about this, Barry."

She focused on Barry, catching him in a telekinetic hold and lifting him a few inches off the ground. Human bodies were harder to affect than objects, it was something about the more complex molecular structure plus the fact that they were about sixty percent liquid, but with some added effort she could hold him. Or so she thought until Barry shouted in rage and started shaking really fast and she physically felt her grip on him loosening before he dropped onto his feet and blurred to super-speed.

"Oh crap", Stella breathed. "Interesting development, guys. Apparently Barry can vibrate out of my vibrations, I can't hold him."

"Can you buy us time until we get there?" Dr. Wells asked, sounds of traffic in the background.

"Sure, how far away are you?"

"About six blocks."

"Yeah, I got it", Stella promised. Okay, six blocks. She could fight Barry for that long. Taking a deep breath, she cracked her knuckles and lifted her hands up in closed fists. "Okay, speedster boy, let's dance."

"This is gonna be awesome!" she heard Cisco squeal. There was a security camera on a nearby wall, so the people at the cortex were probably eating popcorn and enjoying the show.

"Did you just actually say that?" Oliver asked.

"Shut up", Stella muttered. Based on first impression, she couldn't say she liked the Arrow very much.

Barry was running around them in a circle faster than they could see, so Stella decided to cut out the middle man. Waving her hand, she pulled off the asphalt from under his feet like a rug. Barry hit the ground with a thud and Oliver pounced him. He didn't have much luck hitting the speedster, though, Barry was just too fast. Stella levitated up a couple of small but solid blocks of asphalt and aimed them at him; one hit the back of his head, and the next thing she knew, Barry was standing in front of her.

"You shouldn't have done that", Barry growled very uncharacteristically as he spun his hand around the front of her jacket and lifted her to her tiptoes.

"You'd rather I did this?" Stella asked and punched him in the nose. Before Barry could retaliate, a dumpster came at him screeching. He dropped her down, but dodged out of the way before she could trap him between the metal box and the wall.

Barry was fighting the two of them now, dodging and punching on super speed. Subconsciously, Stella and Oliver maneuvered to stand back to back, as if they were fighting multiple opponents. Between the two of them they managed to land some hits, although at least Stella took more than she dished out. Somewhere between tasting blood in her mouth and hearing an uncomfortable cracking sound in her ribs, she regretted not taking a single martial arts class for over a year, she was so rusty.

"Duck!" Oliver hissed at some point. Stella decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and dropped down to the ground. Two arrows whooshed over her out of nowhere, but Barry caught them before they hit him, which would have been an impressive feat in different circumstances.

"Fool me once", Barry grinned like a madman, but Oliver threw a dart through his thigh that made him drop down on one knee screaming. Stella thought that was a little harsh, but didn't want to waste the opportunity. She pulled the lid off the dumpster, tore it in strips, and wrapped the metal strips around Barry. He fell down to the ground shouting in frustration.

"Are those gonna hold him?" Oliver asked as he pulled Barry up.

Stella shrugged, panting. "They should. He's fast, but it's not like he has super strength."

Thankfully, the S.T.A.R. Labs van finally curved to the alley. It turned so its side was facing them, the side doors slammed open, and a device resembling huge bass speakers flashed a series of lights. Stella closed her eyes and looked away until the light show stopped.

"Barry, you okay?" Oliver asked.

"This is going to be a special kind of hangover", Barry groaned. "Guys, I'm so sorry."

Oliver grinned a bit as he looked at Stella. "I think it's safe to let him go."

Stella agreed, unwrapped Barry and levitated the strips of metal to the dumpster. Joe ran out of the car to them.

"Are you all in one piece? Barry, Stella?" he asked and saw the stripped asphalt behind them. "What happened here?"

"Mostly me", Stella admitted. Joe raised his eyebrows.

"Well, you got the job done. But next time, maybe try to rein in the property damage."

Stella grinned. "Hey, it was my first gig, give me a break."

Joe shook his head, but he lifted her arm over his shoulder and started walking her towards the van after Oliver and Barry. She would have managed it by herself, but feeling a little woozy as the adrenaline was starting to wear off, she appreciated the support. Though she felt a lot more energized when she saw Dr. Wells smiling at her from the passenger seat.

"Not a bad first superhero outing", he said.

"Thanks", Stella beamed.

"Are you okay? You're bleeding", Wells asked and wiped off some of the blood on her chin with his thumb. Stella blinked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just… Barry punched me in the face. A couple times. I think, I didn't actually see it."

"I'm sorry!" Barry shouted again from the back of the van. Stella chuckled.

"I should…" Stella gestured vaguely and circled around to the backdoor. She climbed in to find Barry laying down on the floor and gladly joined him.

"Stella, I'm sorry", Barry said yet again as he turned his head towards her. "I'd like to think I'm normally the kind of guy who doesn't hit women."

Stella laughed wearily. "It's fine", she reassured, patting his arm. "Not exactly what I had in mind when I signed up, but… it was fun. We should do that again, maybe when you're not in a ragefest."

"Sure", Barry grinned. "By the way, Oliver and I were talking that we should go and pick up Bivolo on the way, wanna come?"

"Are you kidding me? After all that, there's no way I'd let you go in there without me."

* * *

Facing three superheroes, Bivolo didn't stand a chance. Eobard watched as they walked the meta-human into the van literally with a bucket on his head, to prevent the optical connection. Though the story had ballooned somewhat by the time they reached S.T.A.R. Labs, based on the comparison between what he heard in the van and what the three told the others while Caitlin was patching up Stella and Queen. Eobard listened to the raucous laughter and closely examined the interaction between the Arrow and the telekinetic woman.

"I have to admit, you fight pretty well", Queen said. "For a first-timer, anyway."

Stella raised her eyebrows. "Excuse me?" she said. "When I got there, you were falling to your death. Which reminds me, you still haven't thanked me for saving for your life."

Queen huffed. "You didn't save my life, I have arrows for that", he argued.

Stella smirked. "Is that a catchphrase of yours? 'Don't worry, I have arrows for that'?"

"Pretty much", Felicity confirmed. She was standing on Queen's right, arms crossed, and seemed a little more tense than mere concern for a teammate's well-being would suffice. That might have had something to do with the fact that Stella was once again not wearing a shirt so Caitlin could examine her ribcage, which had bloomed bright purple, almost the same color as the bruises on her back from the tennis balls.

"I don't think any your ribs are broken, just bruised", Caitlin concluded as she straightened up. "Just take it easy for a few days and you'll be fine."

"Take it easy? Caitlin, have you met her?" Barry said.

Stella glowered at him. "You're not allowed to joke about this, you did this to me!"

"I said I'm sorry!" Barry's cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and the others laughed.

"You know what, guys? We should totally celebrate this", Cisco said. "We should go out clubbing or something."

"I could use a drink", Diggle said, and the rest of them agreed more or less unanimously.

"Great, where are we going?" Felicity asked.

"We could go to The Vortex", said Stella, who had telekinetically summoned her phone and was tapping on it.

Cisco scoffed. "The Vortex? The line is gonna be around the block, we won't get in there."

"Yes we will," Stella argued. "A gym buddy of mine is a bouncer there, I just texted him, he's working tonight. And if that fails, I figure Oliver could just show his face and get in pretty much anywhere."

Eobard didn't like the way she was smirking, or the badly hidden, smug expression on Queen's face as he shrugged.

"Eh, probably", Queen admitted.

The superheroes and their support crews rolled out of the infirmary, making plans when and where to meet. Stella pulled her tanktop on as she walked over to where Eobard was pretending to work on the computer.

"So how about it?" she said to him.

Eobard frowned. "How about what?"

Stella tilted her head as she leaned her palms against the table. Even with a split lip and a bruised cut on her forehead, she still managed to look quite disarming. "You heard, we're going out, you coming with us?" she asked. Eobard blinked; he had expected her to be content enough with Oliver Queen to even consider asking him. "And before you argue, I'd like to point out that it was your flashy machine that cured Barry, so you have as much reason to celebrate as the rest of us."

For the hundredth time, Eobard cursed his disability cover. He actually wished he could have gone with them, he was so irrationally bothered by the mental image of Stella grinding on Oliver Queen in some shady nightclub. He kept telling himself it was because the Arrow was a bad influence on his two fledgling superheroes and not for… other reasons that made him want to stick his vibrating hand through Queen's chest.

"I'm not much of a dancer", Eobard smiled wryly. "But thanks for the offer."

The only silver lining was that Stella actually pouted and looked sincerely disappointed before Caitlin came to drag her away.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Long chapter, but there was really no good place to cut it off earlier. Christmas and the Reverse-Flash are approaching!  
Guest re: jealous Dr. Wells: I too find him about equal parts terrifying and adorable. I dread to think what would happen to the Arrow if Stella was actually into Oliver.

* * *

The next morning was one of those days Stella would have rather stayed in bed, but bravely she put on a pair of big sunglasses, got the largest possible go-to espresso and dragged herself to S.T.A.R. Labs. By the time she arrived, everyone else was already there, most of them wearing sunglasses too and looking nauseous to various degrees. That was likely thanks to the shot competition she and Oliver had started, and which Barry had won by light years since he couldn't get drunk, though she still thought speedster metabolism was technically cheating. But at least Barry wasn't there to laugh at the rest of them.

"Hey, I just saw Diggle. You guys are leaving, then?" she asked Felicity and Oliver as she ran into them in the doorway of the cortex.

"Yeah", Felicity nodded. "It was nice to meet you. You have my number if you want to chat about hacking or, you know… other stuff."

"Right", Stella grinned and turned to Oliver. "And you have mine in case you want to have that fight we talked about. But don't wait too long, a few more weeks of training and I'll kick your ass."

Oliver huffed, but he was smiling as he shook his head. "Sure. I'll let you know the next time I'm in town."

Stella gave them both a one-armed hug, though with Oliver she had to stand on her tiptoes because he was so tall. When they left and she turned around, everyone else in the room was looking at her with highly amused expressions. Well, everyone except Dr. Wells.

"What?" Stella wondered.

"Nothing", Cisco and Caitlin said in unison. It reminded Stella of the 'nothing' she and Felicity had given Caitlin the day before, and she narrowed her eyes.

"Oh my god, you guys were there! We were talking about actual fighting, it wasn't some kind of a weird euphemism! Jesus", Stella scoffed and downed the rest of her coffee. She pulled up a chair and slumped onto it by Joe and Wells, whom she thought would act more like adults, even though Joe was laughing too.

"You look like you had a fun night", Joe commented.

"Not you too. I feel like someone took a sledgehammer to my head", Stella grumbled and rubbed her eyes under the sunglasses. "Listen, I've been meaning to ask you – how's the hunt for King?"

Joe became more serious and put his hands in his pockets. "We've been rolling up his operation from fringes up. Got a couple of his minions who'd probably be willing to turn on him for reduced sentences", he told her. "The only problem is, King himself has disappeared. Everyone claims they haven't seen him for months."

Stella frowned. "Maddock's still not talking?"

Joe shook his head. "No. He's loyal. Or more likely well-paid."

Stella fiddled with the lid of the coffee cup. "Can I talk to him?" she asked. "If I'm really the reason he was hired to bomb the bridge, maybe I can make him talk."

"Are you sure?" Wells asked, rolling closer.

Before Stella could answer, an alarm went off. Cisco ran up to one of the computers and brought the video from the front entrance wall to the screens. Two men, both in suits and built like houses, were walking in preceded by a woman wearing a sharp blazer and skirt and high heels. They stopped in the entrance hall, and the woman looked up to the camera, crossing her arms.

"Fucking hell", Stella muttered.

Joe raised an eyebrow. "I take it you know those guys?"

"I don't know who the gorillas are, but I know her. She's King's accountant and computer tech, she's like an evil and kinda bitchy Felicity", Stella replied. She pushed her chair back and stood up. "I'm going down there."

"No you're not!" Wells and Joe spoke in unison.

Stella huffed. "Look, they already know I'm here, they're not leaving until I go there. And if they were planning to start shooting, they'd have shown up with machine guns and not Valentina freaking Méndez."

"Alright, fine, but I'm coming with you", Joe said.

"No you're not!"

Joe looked at her like she was a petulant child. Stella had a feeling Barry had been the subject of that look many times. "Maybe you forgot, but I'm a cop. Those people came all the way here to threaten you or worse. I'm coming."

"Okay, fine, let's go."

"I'm coming too", Wells said.

Stella, who had barely progressed a few steps, swooshed back around. "You're definitely not coming!" she argued. "Joe's a cop and I get that, but you have no business making yourself more of a target than you already are."

"Stella." Wells gazed up at her unusually sternly, his blue eyes like hard ice. "Those people show up at my facility to threaten my -" his hand curled into a fist and uncurled, "my friend. I have every business to come with you. I wasn't making a request."

Stella felt her heart jump a little and swallowed. "Okay, then", she sighed. "But you two, stay here", she pointed at Cisco and Caitlin.

Caitlin lifted up her hands. "Don't worry, we will."

"We'll, uh, monitor the situation from here", Cisco assured. "Should we call Barry?"

Stella shook her head. "No need. I'll handle this."

* * *

While they took the elevator down to the ground floor, Stella lifted the sunglasses on top of her head and fingercombed her hair, trying to look less hungover. Of all the days for King's minions to show up… She wasn't as worried about her appearance as her ability to perform telekinesis in a less than stellar condition, no pun intended. Hopefully she was right and Valentina wasn't there to pick a fight.

"Just let me talk to her, okay?" Stella told the two men. "Anything else Valentina might be, she's not some violent maniac."

Valentina and the gorillas were still in the entrance hall, waiting patiently like they had all the time in the world, when the three of them got there. Stella and her both had naturally mahogany brown hair, but that's where the similarities ended. Valentina was taller and thinner, with rich bronze skin and hair pulled into a flawless tight bun, and Stella had never seen her not looking like she just stepped out for lunch from a Fortune 500 company.

"Stella. How nice to see you again", Valentina smiled pleasantly.

"Valentina." Stella's eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here? Did King demote you to a messenger?"

Valentina tilted her head, still smiling. "He thought you'd respond better to me than some of his… other associates." She glanced at her escorts. "But yes, I am here to deliver a message. Mr. King would like to invite you to brunch."

"Okay, just tell me where to go."

Valentina chuckled. "I'm afraid that would put him in an unfavorable position. We have a car waiting to drive you there and back."

Stella raised an eyebrow. "And back?"

Valentina took off her tinted glasses; her eyeliner was sharp enough to cut a man. "I don't know what you're thinking, but he doesn't want to harm you. He was very explicit about it. He's still quite fond of you."

Stella scoffed. "He doesn't want to harm me? He blew up a bridge I was on!"

Valentina blinked. "I thought the culprit's name was Alexander Maddock. Mr. King had nothing to do with it", she said with a perfect poker face. Oh, she was good.

Stella crossed her arms. "Why don't we cut the crap, Valentina? Because you're not stupid enough to think I'd actually come, so why are you really here?"

"I'm just here to deliver a friendly invitation", Valentina said lightly. "As you know, Mr. King can be quite persistent in his pursuits. The next invite might not be as friendly."

"You really want to be making threats in front of a cop, Miss Méndez?" Joe spoke up. Valentina's gaze shifted to him.

"I know who you are, Detective West", she said. "And that was not a threat, simply a reference to my employer's personality."

"Your employer is a criminal", Joe scoffed.

"I have no knowledge of that, either", Valentina said calmly and turned to look at Wells. "I know who you are, too, Dr. Wells. It's an honor to meet you in person."

"I can't say the same", Wells replied in a pleasant tone completely contradictory to his words.

Undeterred, Valentina chuckled. "I must say, Stella, I'm a little surprised by your current choice of benefactor, but I always told Graham you were smarter than you look. Unfortunately he never believed me." She wiped her glasses on her sleeve as she took a few careful steps forward. "That's what enabled you to break through my firewalls, which was a commendable feat. But since some of his... businesses have recently come under unfortunate scrutiny, I'd say you've lost your leverage."

Stella tilted her head. "Maybe I don't need it anymore."

Valentina shrugged. "You may not, but your new, uh, friends? Are in a much more vulnerable position."

Her eyes shifted to Wells again, and something inside Stella snapped. Valentina's glasses dropped onto the floor as she flew across the air and into the glass door.

"If you know what I can do, then you know what I can do", Stella hissed, striding forward. "Just try hurting my friends and see how that goes for you."

The glass cracked under the pressure as she pressed the other woman harder into the door. The two men in suits drew up handguns; judging by the sound, Joe did the same. Stella waved her hand and the goons' guns tore out of their hands and turned around in the air to point back at them.

"Give me a reason", Stella spoke. Valentina nails scratched against the glass as she struggled to breathe through the invisible vice grip.

"Stella!" Joe shouted. "Stella, they're unarmed, put her down!"

Stella's hands curled into fists, but she let go of Valentina, who almost tumbled as she landed back onto her heels. She was holding her side, gasping for air, her normally calculating and annoyingly cool eyes full of fear.

"You delivered your message, now get out of here before I arrest you for trespassing!" Joe spoke.

The two men and Valentina cleared out quickly, the latter supported by one of the men, still holding her side. Breathing heavily, Stella had enough sense to put the loaded guns down to the floor carefully.

"What's the matter with you? You talk about handing things peacefully and then you start throwing people into walls!" Joe said. Stella swished around.

"She threatened Dr. Wells to my face, you heard her!"

"Of course she did, she's a gangster, that's what they do!" Joe shouted back. "Look, I'm on your side on this, but you've already done some very questionable things. I don't want to have to arrest you. You need to keep your cool and let us handle King."

Stella inhaled deeply. She knew Joe was right, but truth be told, it hadn't been a completely conscious reaction. As soon as she'd heard Valentina threaten Wells, she had just seen red.

A gentle hand wrapped around her arm and she jumped a bit.

"She knows that", Wells said, looking up at her. "Thank you for the assistance, Detective West, but I think we're safe for now. I'll make sure Stella doesn't get into trouble."

Joe didn't look entirely convinced, but he left after gathering the goons' guns, saying he'd take them to evidence. The entrance hall was eerily quiet again after he left, the cracks in the glass the only sign of what had just transpired.

"Don't make promises you can't keep", Stella said wryly. "I told you you shouldn't have come. If King thinks that you're – that we -" She sighed, took the sunglasses off her head and ran her hand through her hair. "He's the jealous type. Like crazy jealous. That's about the only thing that could make you more of a target than simply helping me."

"We'll burn that bridge when we get to it", Wells smiled mildly. "Now, I want you to promise me that you won't go after King or his employees. Joe is right, you have to let the police do their job."

Stella bit her lip. She really didn't want to lie to him, but he looked at her adamantly until she relented. "Fine. I promise", she said. Frustrated and a little bit nauseous, she dropped down to her knees and rested her forehead against the cool arm of the chair. "It's just so infuriating to have to just wait around and not being able to do anything."

"I know", Wells said quietly. "Too bad Mr. Queen just left. He probably would have tracked King down for you."

Something about the way Wells said that that made Stella look up. A crazy possibility suddenly occurred to her, but it would have explained why he'd seemed so quiet all morning, and the way he paused before he called her his friend… It was unlikely, but even the tiniest possibility that Wells was jealous of Oliver made Stella positively giddy all of a sudden, and she had to struggle not to laugh at the irony.

"You know, nothing happened between me and Oliver", she said. "I mean, he's a surprisingly good dancer and we get along pretty well when he's not being an ass, but other than that..." She shook her head.

Wells raised an eyebrow. "I would have thought he's your type, as a more… physical person."

At that, Stella did burst into laughter. "Yeah, no, definitely not", she said as she recovered. She stood back up and dusted off her knees. "Besides, I'm pretty sure Felicity would kill me. Or at least hack my bank account."

Wells's chuckle sounded a little too amused, a little too relieved, and that made her almost forget her throbbing headache for a moment.

"Come on", he nodded as he turned his chair around. "I have something to show you. It was mainly Cisco's project, but after last night's events, I thought you might need it."

* * *

Cisco had been talking since day one that Stella needed a supersuit like Barry. Eobard had mostly just given him a hand with the specs, but as he had needed something else to focus on than Stella at a club with Oliver Queen last night, he had decided to finish it up. Which turned out not to be a concern, if she was to be believed (and why would she lie, really), so Eobard was all the more happy to present the finished project to her, together with Cisco, who was so excited he almost forgot he was hungover.

"Ta-dah!" Cisco beamed, holding the emerald green and black garments up in front of the woman. "What do you think?"

Stella looked up and down them appraisingly, arms crossed. "It's... green", she said noncommittally, knowing it would drive Cisco crazy. "And leather."

"I thought it matches your eyes. You know, when they do that glowy thing", Cisco explained. "It's not real leather, it's a high-tech hybrid material that just looks like leather. Because it's cool."

"And it protects you from minor cuts and scrapes while being breathable", Eobard added. "It also has embedded sensors so we can monitor your vitals remotely."

"I see. I'm sure it has to do with you guys wanting to dress me in skintight leather", Stella smirked.

"Shut up and just try on the suit", Cisco huffed and threw the suit at her face to hide that he was blushing.

Stella disappeared behind a metal screen for a while. Cisco anxiously bit his fingernails until she emerged pulling up the zipper of the jacket.

"Can I leave this down? I feel like I'm being strangled", she said and pulled zipper down to her collarbones. The collar of the jacket went high up her neck, just under her jawline.

"It's supposed to go up to protect you", Eobard pointed out.

"Yeah but… it looks better this way", Stella smirked, examining herself from the mirror. Truthfully, it looked good either way. Like Barry's suit, it was pretty skintight to cut down wind resistance. It was just an added benefit that it emphasized every curve of her body, from her small waist to the flare of her hips to strong, shapely thighs and tight calves under the boots…

Eobard blinked. He hadn't even noticed when Cisco had left his side, he only stirred from wherever he had just been when Cisco strode up to the woman, disturbing his field of vision.

"And check this out!" Cisco said excitedly, holding up a visor with orange glass. "Normal vision – night vision – heat vision – ultraviolet", he rattled, rolling the switch on the side. "And of course it's got a communicator so we can hear what you're doing here at mission control."

Stella quirked an eyebrow. "Mission control?"

"I mean the cortex, but mission control sounds cooler."

Stella put the visor on and settled the ear coverings on their places. The visor covered most of her forehead, eyes and cheekbones, and while the orange plexiglass wasn't perfectly opaque, it would sufficiently mask her identity in most cases. "Huh. Way less orange from the inside than I expected."

"The coloring is just to better cover your features", Cisco said. "So, what do you think?"

"Well -" Stella paced around in a circle waving her arms and did a couple of deep lunges, "it's a little tight, but I can work with this. I've worn crazier things for music videos."

Cisco blinked. "You've been in music videos?"

Stella sighed. "Just a few, as a backup dancer, I'm hardly there – Cisco, please don't go looking for those videos!"

Eobard chuckled and shook his head. "Cisco, put your phone away. The fabric should ease up a bit with use. Other than that, do you have any complaints?"

"No, honestly, it's awesome. It's like the world's most badass biker gear, only I no longer have a bike to go with it", Stella beamed as she took the visor off. "Just – not a complaint exactly, but could I get some heels in these boots? Not like stilettos, but maybe an inch, or two. I like being taller."

Eobard sighed. "I'll see what I can do. I have a few other improvements I still want to make. They'll probably have to wait till after the holidays, but I think I have a solution to your flying problem." He smiled at her quizzical expression. "Oh, yes. I think we can make you fly."

Stella looked like Christmas had come early. _Brains over brawn, Mr. Queen_ , Eobard thought, knowing how petty it was, but that didn't mean it wasn't satisfying.

* * *

Iron Heights Prison was one of those places Stella never thought she'd have a reason to visit, yet here she was, sitting on the bench, drinking coffee and bouncing her leg hard enough that she would have burnt a hole in the floor if she were a speedster. She jumped up when she saw Joe coming in, to her surprise followed by Barry.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" she asked while Joe went to talk to the guard in the reception.

Barry simply smiled and shrugged. "Thought you could use the support."

Despite her continuing reluctance to involve any more members of the team in her problem, Stella smiled gratefully. Joe returned to them.

"Okay, you're gonna have to leave your personal effects on the desk there", he said and lowered his voice. "And I remind you again, you can't throw him around or anything. There are cameras in the box."

"Don't worry, I wasn't planning to out myself to a bunch of random prison guards", Stella assured. "Do those cameras have audio too, or just video? I'm just asking so I know how much I can say!" She raised her hands defensively when Joe glared at her. "I promise I'm not gonna do anything. I'm not stupid."

Joe sighed and put his hands on his hips. "Just video, he's in one of the rooms lawyers use to talk to their clients. But he'll be in handcuffs, so you don't have to be scared."

"I'm not scared, why would I be?" Stella said and swallowed down the lump in her throat.

She and Barry went to leave their stuff at the reception desk. It turned out even a go-to cup of coffee wasn't allowed, so Stella emptied hers in a few big gulps and threw it in the trash can with slightly shaky hands.

"How many coffees have you already had today?" Barry asked.

"Four… ish?" Stella guessed. "What? It helps me focus, don't judge me."

They stepped through the metal detector, Joe leading in the front. Stella ran her hand through her hair and took a deep breath.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" Barry asked.

"Yeah", Stella nodded and bit her lip. "Just… can I hold your hand? For a little bit?"

Barry smiled, but because he was Barry, he didn't say anything, just took her trembling hand in his. As silly as it was, it grounded Stella enough that by the time they reached the correct box, her hands weren't shaking anymore. She slipped her hand out of Barry's and cleared her throat before she nodded to Joe, who opened the door.

The box was a small room, with just a simple white table in the middle with a couple of chair on each side and a camera in the corner. Like Joe had said, Maddock was handcuffed through a metal ring to the table. His hair had been buzzed – Stella briefly wondered if that had happened before or after his incarceration – and his pale eyes looked disturbingly blue against the bright orange of the prison jumpsuit. She didn't know if he'd been told who was coming to talk to him, but he didn't look surprised at all to see her. Joe nodded to the guard in the room, who left and closed the door behind himself.

"Miss… Carrick, was it?" Maddock spoke. "And who's the entourage?"

"Detective West. And he's CSI", Joe said, pointing at Barry. "We're here to ask you a couple more questions about the bridge bombing."

Maddock shrugged. "I've already told you everything I'm willing to disclose, but go ahead."

Stella sat down on the seat opposite of him and crossed her arms. "Look, you don't have to bother, I already know who hired you and why", she said.

"We found the money trail", Joe added. "From Graham King to you. So you can stop covering for him, it's not gonna help you."

"All I wanna know is what King's endgame is, what he thought he could accomplish by exploding a bridge full of people", Stella continued. "There are easier way to kill someone."

Maddock tilted his head. "Who said he wanted to kill anyone?"

Stella narrowed her eyes. As likely as it was that Maddock was lying, he was also the second person in King's gang to claim her ex didn't want to harm her. Which sounded like complete bullshit considering explosives were involved, if not for one rather chilling possibility.

"Then why do it?" she asked, trying to keep her voice level.

Maddock leaned forward, the cuffs clinking around his wrists. "It makes perfect sense as a testing ground, if you suspect someone's got powers and want to find out what they are."

"And why would he suspect that in the first place?"

Maddock smiled, flashing his two golden teeth. "Alright, I'll tell you, just because you came here yourself to ask. That took guts, and I respect that", he said. "King told me this interesting story. One of his men was driving a transport one night, might have been speeding a bit. Didn't notice the guy in the middle of the crosswalk until he was too close to break."

Stella's insides froze; she knew how this story continued. It had been about four months ago, when she'd been coming home from the gym. She saw Joe staring at her from the corner behind Maddock.

"And then this woman jumped in front of the van", Maddock continued. "Didn't push the guy out of the way, just raised her hand and stood there, and the van stopped like it had hit an invisible wall, the whole hood crumbled and all. The woman ran off, but the driver told King what she'd looked like." He tilted his head. "You should have waited more than three days after the big accelerator explosion to break up with him. In hindsight, it was pretty suspicious."

Stella swallowed. "So he really orchestrated the bombing just to find out -" she glanced at the camera in the corner, "if I have powers? What does he think, that I'll go back to him and join his crime gang? Because that is never going to happen."

Maddock shook his head. "The chances are, you're not going to have a choice."

"That's enough", Barry said, and Stella jumped a bit; he had been standing behind her so quiet she'd forgotten he was there. "We didn't come here so you could threaten her."

Maddock glanced at him. "I'm not threatening her, my involvement ended with my contract."

"Well, we're about to bring King in any day now", Joe continued. "So if you're smart, you'll be prepared to testify to what you just said in court."

Maddock laughed, the gravelly laughter of someone who'd smoked too many cigarettes in his life. "No you're not."

He sounded so absolutely certain that it chilled Stella to the bottom of her stomach. She realized that the table under her hands was shaking, struggling against the bolts that attached it to the floor. Before she would tear the table off the floor on videotape, she shot to her feet and walked out of the room, through the metal detector and out of the entire building. Maybe it was all the stimulants in her system, but everything looked overly saturated when she stepped out into the sunlight. Barry and Joe soon followed her, the latter carrying the stuff she had completely forgotten to pick up from the reception.

"Are you okay?" Barry asked.

"Yeah, I just – I can't believe – I didn't know whose van that was, I didn't even think before I stepped in front of it. Why was I so _stupid?_!"

Stella breathed deep, itching to throw around a trashcan or one of the cars on the parking lot or something. But because it was broad daylight, she settled on physically hitting her fist against the brick wall. The pain radiated from her knuckles to the elbow like electricity.

"Hey." Barry walked up to her and carefully laid a hand on her shoulder. "You weren't being stupid, you saved someone from being run over."

"I just reacted, I didn't think about the consequences. That's always the problem. I act before I think and once again, it blew up on my face." Stella rubbed her stinging, slightly bloodied knuckles and sighed. She slumped over to Joe and took her things from his hands. "Thanks. I'm sorry this wasn't any use, really."

Joe shook his head. "It's fine, it was a long-shot anyway", he said and frowned thoughtfully. "Though Maddock seemed weirdly certain we wouldn't catch King. Any idea why?"

Stella shrugged. "Honestly, I don't. I mean, he has his henchmen and I'm assuming a collection of firearms, but other than that…"

Joe sighed. "Well, once we find him, we'll know. We're almost done combing through his operation, he can't hide forever", he said. "Meanwhile, I'm telling you what I told you before. You need to stay away from this case and not to anything stupid. I'd try to get a protective detail on you, but with the holidays and -"

"No", Stella shook her head adamantly. "I'll be fine. Even if he suddenly decided to jump me, I can fight him off. I'm more worried about… other people around me." She bit her lip as Dr. Wells's face drifted into her mind, though not for the usual reasons. If King made the mistake of going after Wells or the others, she didn't care what Joe said, she'd hunt him down to the ends of the Earth.

* * *

For certain reasons, Stella had had conflicting feelings around Christmastime most of her adult life. Having an obsessed gangster ex on her tail didn't exactly help, but despite Valentina and Maddock's ominous threats, King didn't show up even in the form of stalking henchmen, which she rather paranoidly kept watching out for. Other than that, things were quiet on the rogue meta-human front. She and Barry joked that meta-criminals were taking the holidays off, right before the ghost from Barry's past broke into Mercury Labs.

Besides all that, Stella now had another matter to be stressed about, one that her superpowers couldn't help solving. Ironically, it involved the man who had been an intrinsic part of solving her problems recently. Eventually she decided to do what she did most of the time: tackle the matter head-on.

The door to Dr. Wells office was open, but Stella still stopped by the doorway and knocked. He lifted his eyes from the laptop and gestured her to come in.

"Dr. Wells, I have a problem", Stella announced as she pulled up a chair in front of his desk.

"What's wrong?" Wells asked, looking concerned.

"Oh, nothing bad. Well, nothing in addition to our problem with the speed psycho running around the city", Stella assured and leaned her arms on the glass surface of the desk. "It's just that I've been shopping for Christmas gifts, and I found something for everyone, except I'm totally blanking when it comes to you. And I realized the problem is I don't really know what you like, so I thought that instead of trying to guess, I'd just go ahead and ask." She smiled and studied him with a tilted head. "So what do you want for Christmas, Dr. Wells?"

Wells took off his glasses. "Stella, I appreciate the thought, but you really don't have to get me anything."

"Sure I don't have to, but I want to", Stella said. "You've done so much for me these past couple of months. I want you to know how much I appreciate that."

"You still don't need to get me anything", Wells argued, smiling. "Just having you here is a gift in itself."

Stella raised an eyebrow. "But I haven't even done anything yet. I mean, I fought Barry and helped bring in a meta, but I also got you threatened by gangsters, so I think they cancel each other out."

Wells shook his head. He reached over the table and carefully laid his hand on her wrist. "I didn't mean what you can do, I meant just you", he spoke. "Your presence, it's… invigorating. You're like sunlight, or starlight, I suppose, if you forgive me for the horrible pun."

Stella smiled nervously and hoped she wasn't blushing as hard as she thought she was. She got a sudden flashback of the very racy dream she'd had the other night, where she'd solved her gift dilemma by walking into Dr. Wells's office wearing lingerie and a Santa hat and nothing else. She had tried really hard not to think about that dream, but he was making it very difficult at the moment.

"So please, don't worry about it", Wells continued and let go of her rather abruptly, like the gesture hadn't been an entirely conscious decision in the first place. "Unless you'd like to break into Mercury Labs and get me that tachyon prototype. I'm kidding, by the way, don't do that."

Stella smirked. "I don't know, now that you've put that idea into my head..."

"Don't make me lock you up in the pipeline for the holidays", Wells threatened, almost serious.

"You wouldn't do that to me", Stella pouted. "Besides, I'm not sure it could hold me."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, I took a look at the specs, I have some theories how I could maybe break out if I ever ended up there."

"Well, Cisco has been working on power-dampening handcuffs if it comes to that."

Stella narrowed her eyes. "First the leather suit and now handcuffs? I'm sensing a pattern here."

Wells chuckled, though if she wasn't totally mistaken, there was a bit of color to his cheeks. "Alright, I walked myself right into that one", he admitted and realized what he had said. "In a manner of speaking."

Stella burst into laughter and Wells joined her. They were still laughing when Joe and Barry appeared in the doorway looking serious and slightly confused.

"Are we interrupting something?" Joe asked.

Wells shook his head and straightened his face. "No, it's fine, detective. What can I do for you?"

"I saw the man in the yellow suit", Barry said. "I fought him."

* * *

Stella listened to Barry's tale of fighting the evil speedster with wide eyes. Having never lost anyone to murder, she couldn't even begin to imagine how much he must have been hurting. So when he and Joe managed to procure the tachyon prototype and the trap was all finished the next day, she canceled her appointments so she could stick around, even if it was just for emotional support. Which turned out to be a good decision when Joe and Wells informed Barry they thought he should sit this one out.

"That's why I have to be here! I'm the best chance at catching this guy!" Barry shouted.

"Not right now, not in this state", Joe argued.

Barry swallowed. "This man stabbed my mother through the heart and sent my father to prison for it! This is my fight."

"Not today, son."

Barry stormed out and Joe was about to follow him when Stella laid her hand on his arm.

"I'll talk to him", she said quietly.

She found Barry pacing in a circle by the elevator, his face flushed with anger.

"This is crap", Barry scoffed. "I should be here."

Stella bit her lip. "I'm not sure you should", she said slowly as she stepped closer. Barry looked at her incredulously.

"You agree with them?" he wondered. "You of all people?"

"Look", Stella sighed. "I'm the last person to be giving profound life advice, but I've done a lot of stupid shit in my life out of impulse or because I was angry. And I mean stuff that could've gotten me killed. That's how I know it's not good idea for you to stay." She carefully took his hands and squeezed. "I'll be here in case they need superpowered support."

Barry's jawline tightened like a string under the conflicting emotions. "I just… he killed my mom", he whispered. Despite the fact that they were less than three years apart in age, he looked so young.

"I know." Stella stepped closer and wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry. But it's gonna be okay."

Barry hugged her back, exhaling a shaky breath. They stood there for a while before he pulled back and smiled at her weakly.

"Thanks", he said. "But you don't have to stay. I can't ask you to put yourself in danger for this."

"And I didn't ask you to come to Iron Heights with me but you still came", Stella smiled. "That's what friends are for, right?"

Barry left, saying he was going to go visit his dad, and Stella returned to the cortex.

"How is he?" Joe asked.

Stella shrugged. "As okay as he can be, under the circumstances", she said. "So what's the plan?"

Wells crossed his fingers. "Stella, I don't think you should be here either."

Stella raised her eyebrows. "Funny, I recall a very similar discussion we had recently and you remember how that turned out."

"I'm serious", Wells frowned. "If something were to go wrong – we already know a speedster can break your telekinetic hold. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Then I'll figure something out." Stella crossed her arms. "I appreciate your concern, but I already promised Barry, and I want to catch this guy too. I'm staying."

* * *

The trap was set. Barry was home, and six policemen in addition to Joe had taken his place, including Iris's boyfriend, Eddie Thawne. Stella sipped on a can of energy drink while staring at the monitors with the others, waiting for the man in the yellow suit to make an appearance. She was wearing sunglasses, but she was mostly relying on the S.T.A.R. Labs team's technical expertise so she wouldn't have to out herself to a bunch of cops. But if the trap did fail, that would be the least of her problems.

"Are you certain this trap will work?" Eddie asked.

"I've sent up at least three charges into open satellite", Cisco replied, "if anyone's looking for tachyonic particles, they'll know we got them."

Suddenly there was a flash of red lightning on the screen. The containment field kicked up and the yellow figure zipped around the small space furiously, looking for a way out. Dr. Wells smiled a small, but satisfied smile.

"Let's see what we caught", he said.

The armed policemen led the group towards their destination. Stella followed them, walking beside Wells, her hands curled into fists.

"I still think you should stay in the cortex", Wells spoke quietly under his breath.

"We both know that's not gonna happen", Stella replied.

The containment field shone blue against the dark room. The policemen spread into formation, pointing their assault rifles at the target. Stella stayed behind them and lifted the sunglasses on her head, studying the man within the containment field. As best as she could, since the entirety of him was a blur, like he was vibrating all over. She knew Barry could do that, she had just never seen him do it. From what she could make out, the man in yellow was tall and lean, his eyes shining an unnatural red light. Even though he was standing still, he reminded her of tigers in zoos, circling impatiently behind the fence, ready to strike.

"Cisco? Lights", Dr. Wells said. The spots in the ceiling lit up, though they didn't make the space considerably brighter. "Detective Thawne, would you like to read him his rights?"

Compared to Joe's and Eddie's obvious nervousness, Wells seemed eerily calm, especially for an unarmed man in a wheelchair. Maybe he just had an amazing poker face, but considering the fact that this was the second time within a week Stella had seen him willfully put himself in front of very dangerous people, she doubted it. And people told her she had a death wish.

Before Eddie could possibly read the prisoner his rights, Joe stepped forward.

"Joe, what are you doing?" Eddie wondered.

"Getting some answers", Joe replied. "I want to know why. Why?!"

The man in yellow ignored Joe. He stepped forward and directed his gleaming red gaze towards Wells. "Dr. Wells, we meet at last."

Even his voice was vibrating, sounding almost electronic, as if it came through low-quality speakers. Stella felt a shudder running through her spine.

"What do you want with the tachyonic particles?" Wells asked calmly.

"My goals are beyond your understanding", the speedster answered.

"Oh, I don't know, I'm a pretty smart guy." Wells crossed his fingers and tilted his head. "I knew you were exceptionally fast, so any trap we manufactured would have to be invisible. I knew your cells could repair themselves at extraordinary speeds, so you could withstand the damage this is doing to your body right now."

Wells was the only one in the room who didn't seem intimidated by the man in yellow, hell, he was almost taunting him. Stella didn't know how smart that move was, but she also passingly realized that she had never been as attracted to anyone in her life.

"The reason I know all this is because your powers are almost exactly like those of the Flash", Wells continued.

"Oh, I'm not like the Flash at all", the man in yellow replied. "Some would say I'm the reverse."

Everything that followed happened very fast. The man in yellow zipped out of the trap that was supposed to be inescapable, grabbed Wells, pulled him into the containment field and started beating him. Stella shouted as her heart jumped into her throat. She tried to push the speedster off of Wells telekinetically, but either the field blocked her or he just shrugged it off immediately.

"Cisco, turn off the barrier!" Joe yelled.

"If I turn it off, that thing's gonna get out", Cisco replied in the speakers, but Stella didn't care about that, or the fact that she was surrounded by six cops who didn't know she was a meta. The only thing she cared about was inside the containment field being beaten to a bloody pulp. She strode past the line of policemen as she reached for the containment field controller, pulling it apart at a random junction. The field flickered out.

"Get away from him!" Stella screamed as she reached to the walls on both sides and tore off chunks of concrete. She threw them at the man in yellow, who dropped Wells to dodge them, which had been her main objective. Unfortunately, he was much faster than Barry, fast enough to easily dodge all the concrete blocks she aimed at him. The room shook as the blocks hit the surrounding walls.

The next thing she knew, the man in yellow was standing right in front of her. He gripped her around her throat and lifted her up like she was a ragdoll.

"Let her go, or we'll shoot!" Stella heard Eddie shout, but the grip around her throat only tightened. Her vision was dimming rapidly, and she knew the speedster was blocking the blood flow to her brain, which meant she had about three seconds until she'd black out. Her nails skittered fruitlessly against his leather-clad arm, just like any telekinetic hold she tried to get on him simply slicked off like oil over water.

"You should not have come here", the man in yellow spoke in that electric, vibrating voice. He sped again, still holding her. Stella felt a sudden sharp pain at the back of her skull and everything went black.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Can I just say that I wrote this chapter in mid-June, which was a really weird time to be writing Christmas stuff? Also, for those who like to listen to music while reading, I have two songs that I feel go great with this one: _I Know I'm a Wolf_ by Young Heretics and _All I Want For Christmas_ by Chase Holfelder.

* * *

It was the second time Stella woke up from deep unconsciousness in a strange room in S.T.A.R. Labs. Only now she was groggily aware of where she was and recognized Caitlin standing beside her studying a computer screen. She must have made some sort of a sound, because Caitlin turned to look at her.

"Whoa, take it easy", Caitlin said as Stella tried to sit up. "You had a concussion. Fortunately a minor one, and with your healing factor, you should be okay in a few hours. But I gave you a sedative so you wouldn't, I don't know, try to run after the man in yellow, so you may feel a bit disoriented."

The memories flooded into Stella's hazy mind and her half-lidded eyes snapped completely open as she shot up.

"The man in yellow!" she gasped. "Dr. Wells, he was – where is he? Is he okay? What happened?"

"Calm down!" Cisco spoke, stepped beside her and laid his hand on her shoulder to steady her. "Dr. Wells is fine. A little beat up, but he's on his feet – I mean – you know what I mean." He shook his head. "But all the task force cops are dead, except for Eddie and Joe. And the man in yellow took off with the tachyon device after he beat Barry too."

Stella stared at him with wide eyes, her fingers gripping the edges of the table. "He… killed them all?" she repeated slowly. "I should have – I was supposed to protect everyone."

"Hey, this isn't on you!" Cisco said emphatically. "I was watching from the cortex, you saved Dr. Wells! The man in yellow knocked you out."

"You're lucky he didn't do much worse and cause permanent brain damage", Caitlin continued. "I took an MRI to make sure."

Stella looked down to the surface she was sitting on and realized it wasn't a medical table at all, but a glass one that slid into a big MRI machine. She brushed the dully aching bump at the back of her head and gave herself a few seconds to catch up before she slid down from the table.

"Hey, where are you going? You need to lie back down and recover!" Caitlin ordered.

"I need to see Dr. Wells", Stella replied, yanking her arm from Cisco's hold.

"He's fine, he's talking to Dr. McGee -" Cisco said.

"I need to see him", Stella repeated. It was the only pressing concern in her still foggy mind – she had to see with her own two eyes that he was okay, that he was _alive_ , that this nightmare wasn't even worse than it seemed. She stumbled into the corridor and towards the voices carrying from the next room.

"Five police officers died and many others, including myself, almost joined them, yet I did all this just so I could keep your tachyon prototype?" Wells's voice spoke. "Christina… I guess you never really knew me at all."

"And you never really knew me either, Harrison, if you think I'll let you get away with this", replied a woman's voice, agitated but very upper-class sounding.

Stella reached the doorway just in time to see the woman turn around. She had never seen the founder of Mercury Labs in real life, but had seen enough pictures to recognize her. Dr. McGee briefly glared at Stella as they passed each other, but considering the part of the exchange Stella had heard, it wasn't her the older woman was mad at.

"Stella", Dr. Wells spoke as he spotted her. He was sitting on a medical table, wearing a tank top, and under some other circumstances Stella would have undoubtedly admired his bare arms. But now all she could see were the cuts and bruises all over his exposed skin, and she wanted to cry. "You shouldn't be up yet, Caitlin told me you have a concussion."

Stella sniffed as she walked up to him. "Dr. Wells, I'm so sorry", she uttered. "I couldn't stop him, I wasn't fast enough, I tried -"

Wells shushed her. "Stella, it's not your fault", he said as he gently took hold of her arms. "You did your best and you did marvelously. You quite possibly saved my life."

Stella blinked away the moisture in her eyes. "But five people are dead and you're injured and the prototype is gone! I promised Barry I'd handle it, that everything was going to be okay, and -"

Her voice cracked as she finally broke apart, burying her face in her hands. She was faintly surprised to feel Wells pulling her closer and wrapping his arms around her, but she instinctively leaned her head against his shoulder. He held her there, in his warm, strong embrace, while she sobbed into the nook of his neck.

"It's not your fault", Wells repeated, whispering into her ear. "If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. I planned the trap, I let the tachyon device get stolen, I let you get hurt – I'm sorry, Stella."

"It's not your fault, either", Stella argued, muttering. She had calmed down enough that she wasn't actively crying anymore, and she had a vague idea that she should back away, but Dr. Wells seemed content to hold her and she was more than content to be held. Despite the fact that she was a superpowered athlete and he was a paraplegic non-meta-human, she felt so safe in his arms, like nothing in the world could hurt her. "You got beat up, who could possibly blame you?"

"Dr. McGee seems to."

"Well fuck Dr. McGee", Stella scoffed. Wells chuckled beside her ear and then hissed.

"Ow, I shouldn't laugh, I might have cracked ribs."

"Sorry", Stella muttered. She finally lifted up her head and stepped back a bit, just in time to hear someone walk in. She turned to look, saw Barry and her heart sank again.

"Barry, I'm so sorry -" she started, but Barry shook his head.

"It's not your fault. I fought him too and couldn't beat him either", Barry said. "Cisco and Caitlin told me what happened, are you both okay?"

"I'll be fine", Wells assured. "Stella will too, as soon as she rests as she is supposed to."

He looked at her pointedly and she smiled sheepishly. Barry leaned against the medical table and crossed his arms.

"What are we gonna do now?" he sighed. "The trap failed, the man in yellow is still on the loose plus he got the tachyon prototype, and neither of us can beat him."

"I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of him", Wells said. "You'll get another chance. And both of you are yet to reach your full potential."

"So back to training, once the holidays are over?" Stella said.

Barry smiled mildly and raised an eyebrow. "So you're finally letting go of that stubborn notion that you're not a superhero?"

Stella frowned at him. "Superhero or not, he shows up to beat up my friends, he's going down", she said. "Besides, I already have a suit, might as well use it."

Barry laughed wearily and threw his arm around her shoulder. "Want a ride home?"

"No offense, but I've had enough of super-speed for one day", Stella said. "I'll take the bus."

* * *

Stella left the building feeling less groggy and only somewhat dejected. Before she could make it across the parking lot and to the nearest bus stop, however, she heard someone call her name. Even though it sounded nothing like the voice she'd heard before getting knocked out, she jumped and turned around abruptly, only to see Eddie Thawne approaching.

"Hey! It's okay, I just want to talk", he said, raising up his hands and showing he wasn't holding a gun. "Your name is Stella, right?"

"Yeah", Stella admitted slowly. She glanced at Joe standing some distance away next to what she assumed was their car. "I mean, that's my actual name, not a superhero moniker."

"Uh, okay", Eddie said. Stella understood why Caitlin had gushed about him: he was at the perfect intersection between cute and manly, she could see what Caitlin and Iris and no doubt many other women saw in him. Though for obvious reasons, she found him quite threatening right now, under the circumstances.

"Joe said you're called meta-humans?" he continued, and Stella nodded. "So that thing you did -" he gestured with his hands.

Stella waved her hands over some pebbles on the ground, and they hovered up in the air. "Telekinesis. That's my particular gift." She put her hand back into her pocket and looked up at him. "So, were you waiting out here to arrest me?"

"Oh, no! I don't think I could if I wanted to." Eddie laughed nervously. It was so odd to see someone so obviously scared of her. "And I don't want to. Joe told me you're not a criminal or anything, and being a meta-human isn't illegal. I really just wanted to say thank you for what you did."

Stella smiled ruefully. "I didn't do that much. Your fellow officers still died." She swallowed. "I'm really sorry I couldn't protect you all."

"I know. But you tried, and I think that still deserves thanks", Eddie replied. He turned around halfway and gestured towards the car. "Hey, uh, do you want a lift? Unless you prefer to fly or something."

Stella raised an eyebrow. "Is this a covert way to get me locked up in the backseat?" she asked. "Because I can tear off car doors, just so you know."

"No, it's not! You can sit on the front seat, if you want."

Stella grinned. He was cute, in the manner that a rather confused puppy was cute. "Okay, sure. Thanks."

"You know what's weird, though?" Eddie continued as they started walking towards Joe and the car. "The man in yellow killed all the other task force men, but spared me. Why would he do that?"

"Are you asking me? Because I have no idea", Stella said. "Maybe he didn't want to mangle your pretty face?"

Eddie laughed nervously. "Thanks but, uh, I should probably mention that I have a girlfriend."

Stella rolled her eyes. "I know. I've met her, she's gorgeous", she said. "Don't worry, detective, I'm not into blondes. Or cops."

Truth be told, she would have had a hard time thinking of any other man in that light after seeing Dr. Wells in that tanktop. She had known he had nice arms, with those rather form-fitting shirts he always wore, but to actually see them in the flesh… Did he secretly work out, or was he just genetically blessed? She was so distracted by the memory of Dr. Wells holding her in his arms that she almost walked into the car door Eddie was holding open for her. Thankfully she could blame that on painkillers.

* * *

After everyone else had left and the S.T.A.R. Labs building was empty for the holiday, Eobard returned to the secret room. He took the lightning ring from his pocket, slipped it on his finger and pressed it against a specific point in the paneling. The wall split open to reveal the future technology he had stashed there – or not so futuristic, as was the case with the tachyon prototype – and the black mannequin where he unloaded his suit. He opened the suit case and lifted up the prototype, but something made him pause before he could lay it on the suit.

Well, not something. Someone.

 _Crackling emerald light sparking up like lightning. The entire room shaking as chunks of concrete crashed against the walls. The panicked look in her face as she clawed at his arm fruitlessly, silently begging him to_ stopstopstop _. The tears flowing down her cheeks as she broke down under the guilt that didn't belong to her, they way she shook as she cried against his shoulder, seeking safety and comfort in the same arms that had just hurt her._

Eobard closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

In his entire carefully crafted plan, Stella had been the only wild card. He really didn't want to harm her. He had done everything he could do dissuade her from participating, short of actually locking her up in the pipeline. He had knowingly, purposefully hurt many people in his lifetime, but holding her up by her neck and seeing the terror in the woman who normally didn't possess any healthy fear, it had been… difficult, especially since she was in that position _because she'd wanted to protect him_. He had done his best to mitigate the damage, take her out as quickly and safely as possible, but somehow that failed to make him feel any better about it.

Eobard pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. For the first time in fifteen years, he was doubting himself for reasons he didn't (or wasn't willing to) completely understand. Maybe he'd been Wells for too long. He had noticed it before, aspects of Wells's personality rubbing off on him, leaking from Wells's DNA into his soul. But that had been useful, helped to maintain his cover. This… this was a distraction, a bur in his cognitive process. He had no logical reason to question himself now that he was so close to the fruition of his plan.

Eobard stared at the tachyon prototype in his hands. He knew his self-inflicted injuries would heal in minutes as soon as he connected the device to his suit. He'd been planning to cover up the fact by isolating himself for over the holidays. But he looked at the glowing orange light in the center and all he saw was Stella's eyes, overflowing with pain and worry and guilt.

Perhaps… it was wiser to wait, at least a few days, until after Christmas, just to be on the safe side in case he ran into someone. He shouldn't risk raising suspicion and exposing himself for the sake of alleviating mild discomfort. That was a reasoning he could stand behind. He didn't need to think of it as a penance, like he deserved to be hurting for hurting her.

"Merry Christmas", Eobard whispered dryly, in his normal voice, and put the tachyon device back down.

* * *

It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas at Michelle and Janine's house, and not a moment too soon, because it was already Christmas eve. But with Janine in Afghanistan, Michelle working till that morning and Stella's moonlighting as a semi-successful superhero, decorating had fallen behind in the list of priorities. They had, however, managed to produce an absurd amount of food for two adults and one toddler, which wouldn't be so unusual if not for the fact that it happened every Christmas, regardless of how many people there were.

"Found it!" Stella announced proudly as she screwed on the lightbulb and the string lights circling the living room lit up in a shiny rainbow. She had spent the last fifteen minutes trying to find the culprits in the 300-light chain. Lara clapped her hands excitedly and Michelle walked over from the kitchen, wiping her hands in her apron.

"My hero", Michelle breathed, only half sarcastically. "By the way, you are aware you're standing on a stool that's hovering two feet above the floor, right?"

Stella glanced at her over her shoulder. "Don't worry, I drew the blinds on."

"It's not the visibility I'm so worried about, it's the window", Michelle said as she went to scoop up her daughter. "Come on, dinner's ready."

"Noooo, I wanna finish the movie!" Lara argued. At just four years old, Lara was like a miniature version of Michelle, with an adorable round face and long, black hair. Unfortunately, that meant she was just as stubborn too.

"You can finish the movie after dinner with Auntie Stella, okay? If she doesn't break and fall through the window first", Michelle said pointedly. "Now it's time to eat."

"That was – actually that one hasn't happened before", Stella mused as she levitated the stool down to the floor and stepped down from it.

"Please don't take that as a challenge, I'm not driving you to the ER."

The food was abundant but very good, though they decided to leave elaborate dessert for the next day because Michelle had a Skype date with Janine. Stella sat Lara back in front of the TV and cleaned up the table while Michelle was doing her makeup and hair, trying to remember what kind of a miscommunication had happened that had allowed for three apple pies. She knew she had made one, Michelle had made another, but the third was a complete mystery.

"How's my hair?" Michelle asked as she emerged from the bedroom, nervously fingercombing her hair. Stella rolled her eyes.

"Chelle, she's your wife, she's gonna think you're gorgeous even if your curls aren't perfect", she said. "But for the record, your curls are perfect."

"Thanks", Michelle smiled and glanced at the clock. "Damnit, how do I only have ten minutes left – would you mind -"

"I'll put Lara to bed after the movie's finished", Stella promised.

Michelle sighed relieved. "And you're sure you don't mind? I wouldn't leave you alone, but -"

"Michelle, it's all good! I have Lara and I brought some books, I can entertain myself", Stella assured.

Michelle picked up the book Stella had been carrying around the house. " _Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter_?" she read. "Wow, must be nice, light reading."

Stella chuckled. "It's actually really interesting, it has a theory on these hypothetical particles that only interact via gravity and disregard any other – aaand you don't care", she interrupted seeing her friend's expression. "It has something to do with my power, possibly. We're still a little hazy around the details."

Michelle shook her head. "I'm so glad you have nerd friends now."

Stella huffed. "Okay, fine. Go talk to your wife and leave me alone with my nerd books. Go, go!"

She grabbed Michelle's shoulders, spun her around and pushed her to the direction of the bedroom. Waiting for Lara's movie to end, she grabbed her book and curled up on the couch next to the girl. When the movie was over after about fifteen minutes, Lara was fortunately tired enough to change into pajamas and settle into bed without much hassle, though she still demanded a story.

" _Frozen_ again? I've read this to you at least a dozen times. Your mom must be going nuts", Stella said. Lara pouted until Stella sighed, sat down on the bed and cracked open the book. "Okay, but I'm not doing the songs."

Luckily Lara dozed off just before Elsa started shooting up the palace. Stella very carefully extracted herself from her position as a pillow and stood up. It occurred to her at this point that she had forgotten about brushing Lara's teeth, but unwilling to wake the girl back up, she just had to hope Michelle wouldn't be too mad. She smiled as she settled the covers better, turned off the light and crept out of the room.

The living room was quiet now, except for Michelle's muffled voice behind the bedroom door. Stella poured herself a glass of red wine and settled back onto the couch with her very nerdy but fascinating book. Only she found her thoughts drifting from applied physics to a certain physicist. Dr. Wells had refused the invitation to the Wests' Christmas party, and since he had no immediate family, he was probably all alone in his mansion (she assumed it was a mansion). She felt a pang in her heart, even though she hadn't had to spend the last few Christmases alone, she recalled how lonely it was.

Stella leaned her head back against the couch and let the book slip from her grip. She watched the glittering lights on the neighbor's house and made a serious effort not to chase the idea that had popped into her head, but she knew it was futile. Sighing, she found her phone, ordered an Über and then texted Michelle that she'd go out for a bit; she didn't want to barge in physically and interrupt her friend's date.

* * *

Stella stalled by the doorbell for a full minute before she pressed on it. Dr. Wells' house was so tall and modern and obviously expensive it made her want to ditch the entire idea and run even when she was waiting. She shifted on her feet and bit her teeth together, telling herself to stay put and wait a little longer, because the only more embarrassing possibility than him not wanting her there was him seeing her run away along his driveway -

The pair of doors slid open, wide enough to drive a small car through.

"Stella", Dr Wells said. He sounded surprised, but he was smiling, so she hoped it was a pleasant surprise. "What brings you here?"

"Um, I started wondering how you were doing, and as Michelle and I have once again made an excessive amount of food, I thought I'd, well, check up on you and bring you an apple pie", Stella explained all in one breath. "I know I may be overstepping and you said you didn't feel like attending a gathering, so just tell me if you want me to -"

"Stella", Wells interrupted her, raising up his hand. "That was… very kind of you. Please, come in."

Startled, Stella stepped over the threshold, her heart racing in her chest. She hadn't actually envisioned her idea this far and felt like a fish on dry land. Very fancy dry land.

"Are you sure?" she asked as she followed him in. The door shut silently behind her. "I really don't want to intrude..."

Wells shook his head as he turned around to face her. "To be honest, I've grown used to spending Christmases alone, but the surprise is not unwelcome. Especially when it's you." He smiled at her, and she felt like she was blushing as red as her sweater under her jacket. Thank god it was dim. "But I hope you didn't feel the need to come out of guilt, because what happened really wasn't your fault."

"No. I mean, I still feel guilty, but that's not why I came", Stella said. "I just… I wanted to."

 _Because I couldn't stop thinking about you_ , she finished inside her own head.

Stella gazed around in awe as Wells led her further into the house. There weren't any Christmas decorations, not that she had expected them. But there was a fireplace that was several feet long, decorated glass walls and carefully chosen pieces of art. It was all so sophisticated it made her slightly dizzy.

"You probably hear this from every guest, but this place is amazing", she said. "I'd kill for those windows on the ceiling."

"I like to look at the stars", Wells replied. "And yes, I just realized that sounded like a bad pick-up line, I'm sorry."

Stella laughed. "Maybe after like, a year, we've collectively exhausted the pun possibilities of my name."

"If only your parents had known what they set you up for", Wells remarked. "Speaking of your family, you didn't feel like flying to Gotham?"

Stella did a small shrug. "Honestly, I haven't gone there for Christmas for years. My parents and I operate mostly on post card and text message basis."

"I'm sorry."

Stella shook her head. "It's fine, really. I've spent the past two Christmases at Michelle and her wife's place. Only this years Janine couldn't get home for the holidays, so Chelle made me do all the heavy lifting. Which, incidentally, was also a lot easier this time around."

The corner of Wells's mouth tugged as a glint appeared in his eyes. "Don't say I never gave you anything."

Stella cracked up and almost dropped the apple pie.

* * *

Stella still couldn't believe the turn of events when she was curled up in the coziest armchair ever in Wells's living room, a wine glass in her hand and a plate of apple pie on her lap, watching 1927's _Metropolis_. With Dr. Wells. Naturally, but that detail needed emphasizing. She had expected him to make polite small talk for maybe fifteen minutes before making an excuse that he was tired or something – which would have been perfectly understandable with all the injuries he was recovering from. But instead he'd told her he had been planning to watch a movie and asked if she wanted to join him, and she couldn't possibly say no.

Maybe he was lonely, being all alone at Christmas. That was a more likely explanation than the possibility that he wanted her to stay because it was her.

It was nice, cozy, even. It was probably the first time Stella didn't feel like she'd overloaded on stimulants in Dr. Wells's presence. The wine she'd drank beforehand may have had something to do with it, but still. They didn't talk much during the first half hour of the movie, but it was a comfortable silence.

"Can I ask you something?" Wells said rather out of the blue. Stella turned to look at him. He'd taken off his glasses, and the light from the TV screen made his eyes even bluer than usually.

"Sure, shoot."

"What happened between you and your parents?" he asked. "Because I've been wondering if it has something to do with why you didn't become an astronaut."

Stella's spoon paused midway, and she put it down on the plate with a small clink. "It's a sad story, and it's Christmas. I don't want to distract from the movie."

"I've seen the movie before, I'm much more curious about you", Wells said. "But if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine."

Stella blinked slowly. "I can't say no to you", she decided. If her smile was a little bit flirty, she could blame it on the wine. She put the wine glass down on the table and stretched her arms. "Okay. My parents are pretty smart people. Not like Einstein smart, but my dad is a chem professor at Gotham University and my mom works as a researcher for a perfume company. I was in all kinds programs for gifted children since before I could walk, my IQ was consistently somewhere in the 150s, though nobody ever got the exact number because I'd get fed up by the end and just guess the rest." She chuckled a bit. "My parents were so proud, they'd keep telling everyone I'd have a Nobel before I turn twenty-five. But then..."

Stella swallowed. She picked up the wine glass, emptied what was left in it and poured some more.

"I got a full scholarship to a really good college, and I thought it would be easy, because school had always been so easy for me. I had never really had to study or anything, I just sort of absorbed information like a sponge. College was the first time I actually had to sit on my butt and study and suddenly I realized I couldn't. I did great when the subject matter was interesting to me, but all the compulsory general courses I didn't care about were impossible for me."

"Were you ever tested for ADHD?" Wells asked.

Stella's head snapped to his direction. "How did you…?" she wondered.

Wells smiled mildly. "Aside from the fact that your blood tests showed certain substances that are very illegal to possess without a prescription? Your perchance for quick thinking and creativity coupled with impulsiveness and, in your own words, questionable decision making. Your borderline unhealthy caffeine addiction. The fact that this is the first time I've seen you sit still for more than five minutes."

Stella uttered a hollow laugh. "Well, you're officially more observant than me, because I didn't realize until it was far too late. I somehow struggled through college until it finally became too much and I flunked out just before I got by bachelor's. My parents were… They didn't understand when I tried to explain it to them, they thought I was just being difficult. It's not like anything could actually be wrong with me, because I was _so_ smart.

"I moved to the other side of the country to pick up the pieces and start over. It was hard, because I had wanted to become a Nobel-winning scientist and uncover the secrets of the universe and, well... basically become like you." She waved her hand. "Instead I became this."

"How?" Wells asked. "I mean, how did you become an athlete and a dancer and everything after that?"

Stella tilted her head and twirled the stem of the wine glass between her fingers. "Sort of accidentally, really. I started going to the gym and dancing and did martial arts because I needed an outlet. Normally my mind is like a web browser with two dozen tabs open, physical activities are… easier for me in a way, because they force me to concentrate. Your mind can't wander when you have a couple hundred pounds of steel on your back."

"Or when you're telekinetically holding up a bridge", Wells added.

"Or that", Stella chuckled. "At some point people started saying that I should teach that stuff because I knew so much, so that's what I started doing. I'm actually doing pretty well now, financially and otherwise, the sporadic schedule actually works for me." She sipped more wine. "So there you go. That's my sad life story. I hope I didn't ruin the Christmas spirit."

"I don't think it's that sad", Wells replied. "I mean, I sympathize with your struggles, but I don't think the person you became should be mourned. And, on more a selfish note, it brought you here, so I can't say I'm entirely sorry about it."

Stella felt herself possibly blushing again. She shifted in her armchair so she didn't have to crane her neck to look at him. "You're right, actually, in a sense", she said quietly. "I've been trying to fill the void losing all that left in me for almost ten years, sometimes with very questionable means. But now, having these powers and working with you all, for the first time I feel like… I could be happy. That I am happy." She laughed and shook her head. "I'm sorry, it's the wine, it always makes me sentimental."

"Not at all", Wells smiled. "I'll drink to that."

They clinked their glasses. Perhaps encouraged by the wine, Stella continued.

"Can I ask you something, in return? It's about Dr. McGee", she said. "I remember reading on your biography – way before we met – that you were friends, but… she didn't sound that friendly. Is it just inter-company rivalry or…?"

Wells smiled a small smile. "Tina and I were good friends once. We were promising young scientists in Starling City. Well, younger, anyway. Then there was a car accident. I was injured, and my wife, Tess, she… passed away at the scene."

"I'm sorry", Stella whispered, both because of the fact and because she had asked. She hadn't meant to poke at something that painful. She remembered reading about his wife dying in the biography too, as a passing mention – it was a particularly impersonal biography – but hearing him recall the event was a totally different matter.

"Thank you", Wells replied. "Obviously it's been a long while since, but at the time it was… very painful. Like you, I moved to a different city to start over, and became even more married to my job that I already had been. Tina moved too, sometime after, to found Mercury Labs. But after the accident, she claimed I became a different person."

"It's no wonder, after something like that happens you", Stella said. "And for what it's worth – I don't know what her beef is, but I like this version of you."

Wells chuckled and sipped his wine. "Well, Tina would disagree with you. As would a lot of other people. If I recall correctly, my biography describes me as arrogant and prickly and -"

"Tempestuous?" Stella finished. "Yeah, but… you're not like that with me. I mean, I've rarely even seen you raise your voice."

"That's probably because you're different from most people", Wells said. "I find most people close-minded and short-sighted. But you are the opposite of that, you're willing to accept new information and embrace change, it's a very refreshing quality."

Stella grinned. "Most people would describe that as being impulsive and flighty and -"

"Capricious?" Wells suggested. Stella laughed.

"That might not be in most people's vocabulary, but yes."

"I guess it's a matter of finding the optimal point of view", Wells smiled. "Anyway. Tina and I had an eventual falling out, partially because of that perceived change, though we stayed in professional contact."

"Thank you", Stella said, "for telling me."

"Of course. After all, you told me your so-called sad life story."

Stella laughed. They continued watching the movie in a silence for a few minutes, though she had completely lost track of what was happening, but that had never been the point.

"Who was the guy who said that we must let go of the life we have planned so as to accept the life that is waiting for us?" Stella suddenly found herself asking.

"Joseph Campbell, I think", Wells replied. "Why?"

"I'm starting to think he was onto something", Stella said.

Wells studied her for a long while, with an expression she couldn't quite interpret, before he turned his attention back to the movie. They finished it in a deeper, yet surprisingly not less comfortable silence. Somehow Stella felt more free now, after telling him, and she especially appreciated the fact that he had opened up to her in return. Maybe that could be blamed on the wine too, but it still brought a warm feeling in her chest that had nothing to do with the alcohol.

Careful not to overstay her welcome, Stella had ordered a cab to pick her up about the time it was done. Wells opened the front doors for her as she wrapped her scarf around her neck. It was snowing now, big, fluffy white flakes against the night sky.

"Thanks for the wine and the movie", Stella said.

"Thank you for coming", Wells replied and took her hand in his. "Really. It was nice to have company."

Stella beamed. "Same time next year?"

Wells chuckled. "I would not be opposed."

Driven by a sudden impulse, and possibly the wine, Stella bowed down and pressed a quick, light kiss on his cheek. "Merry Christmas, Dr. Wells", she whispered.

She was not prepared at all when she felt fingers wrapping around the back of her neck, stopping her from standing back up. It took her dazed mind a couple seconds to sort out the soft, smooth touch on her face and realized he had repeated her gesture. Dr. Wells had kissed her. On the cheek, but still.

"Merry Christmas, Stella", he spoke into her ear in a low voice that zapped through her entire nervous system like lightning. "And please, call me Harrison. I think it's long overdue."

Stella blinked like a deer in highlights as she straightened up. "I'll, uh, I'll try. Might take some getting used to, though."

* * *

Stella had very little recollection of going into the cab or telling the driver an address, but apparently she had because the car was moving. She leaned her forehead against the window and watched the blur of snowflakes outside. The radio was playing a rock coverof Mariah Carey's Christmas song, the singer was screaming _'All I want for Christmas is you, baby'_ on repeat, and she knew exactly how he felt.

She stumbled up the stairs to Michelle's porch, snowflakes still clinging in her hair as she knocked on the door. Michelle came to open the door in pajamas, sipping eggnog.

"Hey, how was your Skype call with Janine?" Stella asked as she stepped in.

"It was great. I mean, I miss her like crazy, but at least I got to see her", Michelle answered. "How was… where were you, anyway?"

"I went to see Dr. Wells", Stella replied as lightly as she could. "He was just in an… accident, sort of, and I knew he was alone so I thought I'd – what?"

Michelle was grinning from ear to ear. "So you thought you'd give him a Christmas gift to cheer him up?"

"No!" Stella exclaimed, her ears burning, and then remembered Lara was sleeping. "I didn't give him anything. Except an apple pie because we had three of those."

Michelle raised an eyebrow. "You know you were gone for over two hours, right?"

Stella sighed and went to the kitchen to pour herself some eggnog. With a warm mug in hand, she slumped onto the couch.

"Nothing happened. We watched a movie and had some pie and talked. It was really nice." She smiled wearily. "I think I've fucked up."

Michelle frowned as she sat on the armchair opposite of her. "Why do you say that?"

"Because." Stella closed her eyes. "I think I'm love with him."

Michelle started laughing and Stella's eyes snapped open.

"Stop laughing, it's not funny!" Stella shouted in a whisper.

"Yes it is", Michelle snickered. "I was expecting something terrible. You being in love with Wells is like, not even news. You've been gushing about him since the bridge incident."

"Yeah but… it's different", Stella argued. "I was always attracted to him, but that was just a... neurochemical reaction, I could handle that. But today as I was leaving, something happened and my heart just..." She grabbed her sweater over her heart and squeezed. "It's not just a physical thing, it's much deeper than that."

Michelle frowned. "I'm still not hearing the part why this is a problem."

"Because I can't be in love with him!" Stella cried out. "I admire him and respect him and he's been helping me so much. And he knows stuff about me that I've rarely told anyone I've actually dated, and he still thinks I'm great."

"You do realize that sounds healthier than any relationship you've actually been in, right?" Michelle pointed out. "I mean, as long as I've known you, all your boyfriends have been kind of…"

"Douchebags of various degrees?" Stella finished. "Yeah. That's why it was easy, I didn't really care about them. But I care about Harrison, and I don't want to lose what I have with him."

A wily grin spread on Michelle's face. "Since when have you called him Harrison?"

Stella sighed. "Since he asked me to. Like, half an hour ago. I'm trying to get used to it, it feels weird, I've always thought of him as Dr. Wells."

"Well, I've personally never been able to get into the whole Dr. thing, but if you're into that -" Michelle was cut off when a decorative pillow levitated into her face.

"You are not helping", Stella grumbled.

Michelle pulled the pillow from her face to her lap. "Okay. You want actual advice? Stop overthinking this", she said. "I know I always complain you don't think things through, but you're going too much to the opposite direction. You need to stop stressing out and just let nature take its course. I mean, what's the worst thing that could happen?"


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Guests, thank you for the reviews, and thinking that this fic deserves more reviews! :) And yes, Michelle totally jinxed it. We can all blame her if/when things go downhill.  
There is a slight chance I will have to fudge stuff around later on. I know everything that should happen, it's just the order of some scenes I'm having problems with. But I will notify of any edits if I end up making them.

* * *

After Christmas, Eobard finally gave himself permission to activate the modified tachyon device, which greatly sped up the healing from his self-inflicted injuries. In retrospect, it had been a good idea to wait, considering Stella had turned up on his doorstep on Christmas Eve without a warning. Of course, theoretically he could have always not let her in, but he had been so glad to see her he didn't even consider it. It was thin ice he was treading on, he knew that, but he also knew he had never felt as much at _home_ in that house as he had felt watching an old sci-fi movie and swapping life stories with her. She almost made him forget it wasn't really _his_ life story, even if he was the one who had lived it for the past fifteen years.

Thin ice indeed.

The team returned to work with renewed determination after New Year. In Barry's case, that also included renewed moodiness. Despite blowing up a drone with its own rocket during the training exercise, he was still uncharacteristically tense when they arrived back to the labs, which also coincided with Stella's arrival. It was like having two opposing energy sources in the same space, and Eobard watched the situation unfold carefully.

"Hey, guys!" Stella smiled at the room, a large go-to cup of coffee in one hand, and pulled her hat off. She had a large purple bruise on her temple that hadn't been there at Christmas. "I saw the van outside, were you at the air field?"

"Yeah. Where were you?" Barry asked in an accusatory tone and crossed his arms. "I thought we were both supposed to be training."

"Dude, I was training", Stella huffed. "Where do you think I got this?" she gestured to her forehead.

"Yeah, where did you get that? Did you run into the Reverse-Flash?" Cisco asked and grinned. "Yeah, I named him. Good, isn't it?"

"Sounds fitting", Stella replied. She sat on the edge of a table and winced a bit as she slid her coat off. "I have a friend who's a former Navy Seal. I asked him to give me some pointers, like how to break out of choke holds and shatter kneecaps and other fun stuff like that."

"Why does that not surprise me at all", Caitlin muttered. "Do you want a cold pack for that?"

Stella grinned. "That'd be great, the coffee shop gave me ice but they melted on the way."

Caitlin disappeared into the infirmary. Cisco looked vaguely impressed, but Barry still looked unsatisfied.

"Do you think that's gonna help?" he huffed. "Even I'm not fast enough to hit him, and I'm a speedster."

Stella telekinetically caught the cold pack that Caitlin threw at her general direction; perhaps sensing the storm building, Caitlin didn't seem to want to get any closer. Stella pressed it against her temple, shrugged and sipped her coffee. "Then you need to become faster."

"Like it's that easy", Barry scoffed. Stella rolled her eyes.

"Obviously not, but I'll help you."

"What are you going to do?" Barry asked. "Dr. Wells and Cisco and Caitlin are already helping me, and it's still not enough."

"Barry -" Eobard started. As potentially interesting as the exchange was, he vividly remembered everything Stella had told him on Christmas and didn't want Barry to hit her sore spots. But Barry ignored him and stormed out of the room. Stella took a deep breath, emptied her coffee cup and tossed it into a trashcan before she followed him, but Eobard grasped her arm as she passed him.

"Stella", he said quietly. "He didn't mean that."

"I know", Stella assured. "It's fine."

She smiled mildly and squeezed his shoulder before she left the room, leaving Eobard, Cisco and Caitlin hoping they wouldn't soon hear sounds of two meta-humans fighting.

* * *

After a bit of searching, Stella discovered Barry sitting on the edge of the treadmill. His eyes were glistening as he looked up at her.

"Stella, I'm sorry", he spoke quietly. "I didn't mean to -"

"I know. You're just angry. I get it", Stella replied. She walked up to him and sat beside him on the treadmill, fiddling with the cold pack in her hands. "But for the record, you're not the only one who's pissed off. I know I may seem like – like I don't care, but -"

"I know you care", Barry interrupted. "You wouldn't be here if you didn't."

Stella smiled mildly and studied his face. "Is it just this Reverse-Flash business, or is there something else going on too?"

"No", Barry shook his head and sighed. "Yes. I… told Iris how I felt about her, right before Christmas."

Stella blinked. "Oh, wow. What did she say?"

Barry sniffed. "Nothing really. Mostly she was just… crying."

"Wow", Stella repeated.

"Yeah." Barry shrugged. "She's still moving in with Eddie, so the whole confession changed nothing, except now it's all awkward between me and her."

Stella wrapped her arm around his shoulder and leaned her head against the closer one. "Well, for what it's worth, I think you did the right thing, even if it didn't change anything", she said and uttered a chuckle. "Once again, you're officially braver and more heroic than I am." Barry raised a quizzical eyebrow and she shook her head. "Don't ask."

Barry wearily rested his head on hers. "I just feel like… the harder I try to change things and make a difference, the further they slip away from me."

"I know how that feels", Stella said. "But you know that's not true, right? You've already done a lot, you've put a lot of criminals away, including several bad metas. It may not feel like much when your nemesis is still out there, but it counts for something."

Barry smiled slightly. "For someone not in the position to share profound life advice, you're not that bad at it."

Stella chuckled. "I think it's just that… sometimes we're able to see other people more clearly than we see ourselves, you know?" She straightened her back and stood up. "Come on. Let's go train. I've got a few ideas how to improve your speed."

"Like what?" Barry frowned curiously as he took the hand she offered and let her pull him up.

"I thought about this over the holidays when I was reading some stuff. Mostly particle physics, but also some new articles on physical development", Stella said. "And I started thinking that so far, you've mostly approached your speed as a physics problem, but there is also the purely physical component, and if we improve that, it might give you an edge. Dr. Wells thought it's worth a shot when I talked to him about it."

Barry raised a dubious eyebrow. "You talked to Dr. Wells about me behind my back?"

Stella rolled her eyes. "Not about you specifically, we talked about a lot of stuff over messages, you were just a passing topic", she said. "Look, you may have gotten your abs from lightning, but this -" she gestured at herself from head to toe, "I forged this with blood and sweat and tears, and a surprising amount of math. I don't have a science degree, but when it comes to physical performance, I wrote the book. If anyone can do it, I can."

Barry shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets. "Okay then, if you think it might help, I'll give it a shot."

"Awesome!" Stella slapped her hands on his shoulders and pushed him out of the room in front of herself. "Why don't you go find Cisco and dig up those cameras that are fast enough to capture you in super-speed, I'll go make some space in the Danger Room."

"But there's a treadmill right here", Barry pointed out, gesturing over his shoulder.

Stella huffed. "People run differently on a treadmill", she said. "See, this is why you need me here, you're all just a bunch of nerds."

"Says the girl who spent the holidays reading up on particle physics", Barry grinned.

* * *

An hour or so later, Stella left the Danger Room along with Cisco, Caitlin and a rather sweaty Barry. She'd made him run sprints back and forth so she could get a sufficient amount of readings and footage to analyze. Cisco and Caitlin had mainly been there as interested observers, and Stella was more than happy to explain to them what she was planning to do. It felt nice to feel like the expert for once.

"Anything useful that popped up?" Barry asked.

"Yeah, several things. No major problems, just a few technique tweaks I'd like to try", Stella replied, swiping through the images. "Did you know you're quad dominant? Not by a large amount, but it's pretty common, especially among guys."

"Noooo", Barry replied slowly. "Is that a problem?"

Stella shrugged. "To the extent that ideally physical development should be as balanced as possible, and increased glute engagement would most likely result in better power output. But don't worry, I know how to fix that."

Cisco snorted. "You mean Barry is not using his butt muscles enough?"

"Okay, can we stop talking about my butt?" Barry requested.

"Yeah. We'll come back to that later", Stella grinned. "Do you know what your body fat percentage is?"

"Er…."

"14.6", Caitlin replied off the shelf. Barry glanced at her incredulously.

"You measure that?"

"Of course", Caitlin said. "We have to make sure your metabolism isn't running haywire."

"I already regret I agreed to this", Barry muttered.

Stella laughed and rubbed his back. "I swear, I'm not doing this to mess with you, it's all necessary info so I can design a training program", she assured. "Do you guys have like a spare laptop I could borrow? I need to run some calculations. And probably code some entirely new ones, since the ones I normally use don't account for meta-human regeneration rate."

"I think we can do better than a laptop", spoke Dr. Wells, approaching them from the opposite direction. "If you come with me, please."

Stella raised a curious eyebrow, but he refused to elaborate, and the rest of the team looked just as clueless, or pretended to, anyway. She followed Wells – no, Harrison – into the elevator. It still sounded strange calling the man by his first name, even if it was just in her own head. She had been a fangirl of Dr. Wells's much longer than she'd been a friend of Harrison's, using his first name felt almost… sacrilegious, even though the fact that he wanted her to gave her warm feelings.

"Where are we going?" Stella asked as the elevator doors closed and hugged her tablet. "Because you're making that face again and I'm getting suspicious."

"Face, what face?" Harrison asked.

"That face you make when you know something but don't wanna tell me because you love to torture me by keeping me in suspense", Stella grinned.

Harrison smiled in a way that told her he knew exactly what she was talking about. "Patience is a virtue, you know."

Stella rolled her eyes. "Not my virtue, I have ADHD, remember?"

He chuckled. "Actually, it has to do with what you told me on Christmas", he said. "I started thinking that Caitlin has her own lab and Cisco has his workshop, so now that you've volunteered to be the physical performance expert -"

They were in a corridor below the cortex, not far from Caitlin's personal lab if she wasn't mistaken. Harrison stopped by one of the doors and pressed his hand on the panel next to it; the door slid open to reveal a fairly sizable, brightly lit room.

"- You should have your own space", he finished.

Stella blinked. She looked around the room as she stepped in slowly, as if in a dream. There were several empty shelves, a desk with no less than two computers with three big screens in total, and even a fridge.

"Whatever equipment you need, you can bring over here, I just didn't want to start you off with unnecessary clutter. In the off-chance that we don't already have it, we'll order it for you", Harrison continued.

Stella turned back to look at him. Once again she found it hard to speak, though for a different reason than usually. "You're giving me my own lab?" she repeated as if in a haze. "But… I'm not a scientist."

Harrison looked at her over crossed fingers. "You don't have a degree, but the way you think and approach problems – you are definitely a scientist."

Stella swallowed and fidgeted with her fingers. "You don't have to do this, just because of what I told you", she said quietly. "I know I'm not -"

Harrison lifted up his hand, interrupting her. "I'm not doing this out of pity. You're brilliant, Stella, and my goal is – rather selfishly – to harness that brilliance. Besides", he smirked a bit, "it's not like we don't have the space."

Stella blinked profusely. "I don't know what to say", she whispered and wiped the corner of her eye. "Damn it, I'm gonna cry."

"Just say thank you and please don't cry."

"Thank you, Harrison", Stella smiled, trying to convey her gratefulness in those two small words. "Um, do you still want me to call you Harrison, or was that the wine talking?"

He shook his head. "No, it wasn't just the wine talking. But if it bothers you -"

"No! Just takes a little time to get used to" Stella said quickly and swiped a strand of hair behind her ear. "You know, in some weird way, I'm glad King decided to blow a bridge on me. Because otherwise, any of this", she gestured between them and around the room, "might never have happened."

Harrison smiled. "We'll send him a thank you card once he's in prison."

* * *

Despite his decision to focus on improving his speed instead of whatever Captain Cold was up to, Barry quickly became convinced that agreeing to Stella's offer to train him was a grave mistake. After a few days of preparations that she and Cisco were very hush-hush about, she dragged Barry to one of the countless spare labs that had been repurposed as a gym. That was not an exaggeration: the metal floor was covered either in black, shock absorbent material or tatami mats, and there were weights and other equipment scattered everywhere, only half of which he vaguely recognized.

"Great, isn't it?" Stella grinned, resting her elbow on his shoulder. Barry looked at her dubiously.

"I don't know, I feel the same kind of nausea slash panic I used to get before high school gym classes", he replied. "What's the hat for? There aren't any windows here."

Stella touched the black and red visor cap she'd settled on her head. "I always wear this when I'm training people. Helps me get into the right mindset", she said and slapped his back. "Come on, let's go."

An hour or so later, Barry was dying. Or at least he genuinely felt like he might drop any second. He had several dozen pounds of metal on his back and he was uncomfortably stuck at the bottom of a squat, unable to get back up because his legs were jelly. Plus the woman whom he had thought as his friend turned out to be the actual devil.

"Stella, I can't do it", he panted. "I can't get up from here, can I just drop this?"

"No!" Stella said sharply and squatted down to his level. "Barry, I wouldn't ask you to do anything you're not able to do. Now come on, just two more. I'll help."

She placed her fingers under the barbell on both sides of him. Barry gritted his teeth and dug deep into his reserves, without tapping into the Speed Force, because she'd said she'd slap him if he did that – apparently that would be cheating and defeat the whole point of the training. Somehow he found it in himself to stand up and even squat down and back up one more time, likely with some input from Stella. Uttering a relieved sigh, Barry walked the bar back into the rack and then let himself collapse onto the floor.

"Good boy", Stella beamed, knelt down beside him and patted him on his damp hair. "I knew you could do it."

"Can you stop saying that like I'm a dog?" Barry breathed. Stella had the nerve to laugh at him as she telekinetically summoned a water bottle and put it in his hand.

"Aww, but you are like an adorable puppy."

Barry scoffed. "You're worse than Dr. Wells, hands down."

"Can I get that in writing?" said a voice from the doorway. Barry looked over his shoulder to see Wells and Caitlin there, looking far too amused for his liking.

"How long have you been there?" Barry asked.

"Only about a minute", Dr. Wells replied.

"We wanted to check how you were doing", Caitlin added. "And to make sure Stella doesn't break you."

"I would never!" Stella huffed, looking greatly offended, as she stood up. "Injured clients have a really bad return rate."

Wells rolled further into the room, dodging a group of kettlebells on the floor. "I like what you've done with the place", he commented as he gazed around. "We've never had a gym before."

"Hopefully you'll still like it when you get the bill", Stella grinned. "Sending me shopping with an unlimited credit card is basically financial suicide."

Wells chuckled. "If it helps Barry become faster, it's money well spent."

"Yeah, I don't know about that", Barry groaned from the floor, clutching his thigh. "Is it supposed to feel like I can't bend my legs?"

Caitlin rushed over to him. "What did you do to him?" she asked in an accusatory tone as she knelt down and pressed above Barry's knee.

"I didn't do anything, it's probably just -" Stella paused and uttered an incredulous laugh. "Of course! It's DOMS."

"It's what now?" Barry asked.

"Delayed onset muscle soreness", Caitlin replied.

"Right. Basically it's inflammation and microtrauma your muscle tissues are not used to", Stella translated. "Usually it hits on the day after, but your healing is so much quicker it sets more rapidly. The good news is, it will likely pass in a few hours too." She crossed her arms and tilted her head thoughtfully. "This is very fascinating, actually, I should take notes."

"I'm glad you're having fun, but I don't appreciate being the guinea pig for meta-fitness", Barry hissed as he pushed himself up into a sitting position with Caitlin's help. "Do you always feel like this after you work out?"

Stella shrugged. "Not to that extend, it's much less intense when you're used to it, but I also don't consider it a good workout if I'm not hurting somewhere afterwards." She grinned as she circled around him, wrapped her arms around him under his armpits and physically lifted him up like he weighed nothing. Several protein bars floated over and she slapped them onto his palm. "Here. Have some protein and stop being a baby."

Barry narrowed his eyes. "You should've become a drill sergeant."

Stella laughed. "So I've been told. But with how distracted I can get, no-one should ever give me a gun."

Barry was happy to hear footsteps from the corridor to direct everyone's attention from his embarrassment slash misery. He expected it to be Cisco, but it turned out to be Joe.

"Hi, Joe, what's up?" Barry asked and stuffed third a bar into his mouth.

"Oh, hi Barry", Joe said as he stepped into the room. "I'm actually here to see her", he said, pointing at Stella, who frowned.

"For the record, whatever it is, I didn't do it", Stella stated, but became more serious as she studied Joe's expression. "What is it, something bad?"

"You could say that."

* * *

They all gathered in the cortex, having picked up Cisco on the way. As soon as Stella had heard that Joe had news about King and had seen his morose face, her good mood had plummeted. It definitely didn't seem like Joe was here to deliver good news about her ex's capture.

"You want the good news or the bad news first?"

Stella raised an eyebrow. "There are good news?"

Joe shrugged and sighed. "Negligibly", he said. "The only good part is that we found him. Pretty accidentally, a plainclothes spotted him with a couple of his underlings downtown. We went there with a squad and surrounded the building."

Stella swallowed, sensing a 'but' coming. "And?"

"We got the henchmen, they surrendered. But King..." Joe put his hands on his hips and shook his head. "Two cops are in the hospital because he tore off a support beam and threw it at them. Four others emptied their clips into him and he just shrugged it off like it was nothing before he ran off."

"What the frack", Cisco muttered.

"My thoughts exactly", Joe said. "Also, from the pictures I've seen, I take it he wasn't an eight feet tall hulking mass of muscles the last time you saw him?"

Stella shook her head slowly before she leaned her head against the back of the chair she was sitting on backwards. "Oh my god", she muttered. "I can't believe it. Of all the people who could have gotten powers from the accelerator explosion..."

"I agree, this is problematic", Harrison said. Stella lifted up her head and huffed incredulously.

"Problematic?" she repeated. She shot to her feet and pushed the chair away. "This is a catastrophe! All this time we've been operating under the assumption that he's just a greedy bastard who pays other people to do his dirty work, but now that's turned into the freaking Hulk..."

Stella shook her head again and started walking around the computer station, but before she could anywhere near the doorway, Barry had zipped to her and was holding onto her arm.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"After him, obviously!" Stella scoffed and yanked her arm free. "You heard Joe, the police can't touch him. I have to do it!"

"Yeah, no. Aside from that there's no way in hell I'm letting you go after him by yourself -" Barry started.

"We have no idea of his current location", Harrison continued. "Do we, detective?"

Joe shook his head. "No. We couldn't keep track of him out of the scene, it's like he vanished into thin air."

"But if he's an eight-foot tall meta with super strength, where would he hide?" Caitlin wondered.

"That's the million dollar question", Joe said. "Look, Stella, I didn't come to tell you this to sic you after him. I mean, you guys are probably gonna have to deal with him eventually, but unless he comes banging at the doors, Snart is still on the loose and needs to be dealt with first."

"I'd say this is one of those situations where you're not supposed to run off on an impulse", Barry pointed out.

The other's collective power of reason was just enough to offset the adrenaline and frustration coursing though her. Stella slumped against the wall and sighed.

"You're right", she admitted. "Of course you're right. I just..." She shook her head and pushed herself off the wall. "I'm going back to the gym."

Barry raised his eyebrows in alarm. "I thought we were done for today."

"Oh, we're done. I just need to hit something."

* * *

When Eobard descended to the floor where the newly furbished gym was located, he heard the music before he even left the elevator. It wasn't the kind of pop and electronic Stella usually played, it was angry and loud and guitar-heavy rock. As he arrived closer to the doorway, he heard the sharp thumping sounds over the music. Stella was pummeling a punching bag, a sheen of sweat glimmering on her skin. She didn't notice him, so Eobard watched her for a while, not because she was wearing just a sports bra and mini shorts, but because her rage was as fascinating as it was rare. He had only really seen it twice, interestingly both times when someone had threatened him. It transformed her entire demeanor from a light, flirty creature into an uncontrollable force of nature, like a tornado or a lightning storm. Dark matter wasn't Speed Force, but he'd have sworn he could sense the energy radiating from her being.

Eobard smiled behind his hand. While it wasn't exactly a good outcome that King had turned out to be a meta-human, it might prove useful in the long run. After all, Barry had the Reverse-Flash to motivate him.

Stella eventually unloaded an accidental burst of telekinesis with her punch, and the chain holding the bag snapped, sending it flying into the wall. She grimaced.

"Feel better?" Eobard asked over the music. Stella jumped, her eyes flashing for a moment before she saw him and relaxed.

"Somewhat", she said, panting. Which, admittedly, did interesting things to her sweaty abs. "I'll, uh, fix that", she added, gesturing towards the punching bag.

"It's alright." He wheeled closer and tapped into the sound system from his tablet to turn the volume down to a less deafening level. "I have to say, I worry that you think this is your fault."

"Well, it certainly feels like it is", Stella huffed. She summoned a water bottle from the fridge and took a long gulp. "Do you ever just… go over everything you've done, like you're rewinding a film, and facepalm over all the times you fucked up?"

Eobard uttered a chuckle. "You have no idea", he said. "But you can't dwell on it, or it'll ruin you. Which, I admit, is easier said than done."

Stella smiled half a smile. "Hindsight is a bitch, huh?"

"Yes, it is", Eobard agreed. "Now, did you spend up all your energy? Because I have something for you that might cheer you up."

Stella raised an eyebrow. "You know, usually when men say that to me, they mean diamonds", she quipped. Eobard smiled.

"Oh, no, nothing that cliche. Something much more interesting."

* * *

 **A/N2:** There's so much dubious comic book science in this fic, but the fitness science should be fairly solid, since I actually have some knowledge in that area.  
My two personal favorite things about this chapter: Stella and Barry's developing BroTP, and Eo referring to himself in third person.


End file.
